Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

The line defines intelligence less as the possession of facts or raw computational power than as flexibility: the capacity to revise one’s models of the world when circumstances shift. Read this way, “intelligence” is measured by responsiveness—learning, updating assumptions, and finding workable strategies under new constraints. The emphasis on adaptation also aligns with an evolutionary view of success: survival and progress depend on adjusting to changing environments rather than clinging to fixed habits. As a maxim, it cautions against equating intelligence with certainty or rigidity; it suggests that openness to new evidence and the willingness to change course are central to genuine understanding.