I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.

Pinter distinguishes “wisdom” (often associated with settled authority, moral certainty, or a finished worldview) from “critical intelligence,” a faculty that questions, tests, and refuses complacency. The second sentence—his intention to “allow” that intelligence to operate—suggests an ethic of intellectual permission: not silencing doubt for comfort, reputation, or ideological loyalty. Read this way, the remark aligns with Pinter’s public posture as an artist and citizen who mistrusted official narratives and preferred scrutiny over pronouncement. It also implies humility: he does not claim superior insight, only a commitment to keep interrogating language, power, and his own assumptions.