# Quote — Daniel Keyes, Flowers For Algernon

> Don't misunderstand me," I said. "Intelligence is one of the greatest human gifts. But all too often a search for knowledge drives out the search for love. This is something else I've discovered for myself very recently. I present it to you as a hypothesis: Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis. And I say that the mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can only lead to violence and pain.

- Author: [Daniel Keyes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes.md)
- Book: [Flowers For Algernon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Keyes#Flowers_for_Algernon_(1966)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon/dont-misunderstand-me-i-said

## More from this book

> Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon/even-a-feeble-minded.md)

> The answer can't be found in books — or be solved by bringing it to other people. Not unless you want to remain a child all your life. You've got to find the answer inside you — feel the right thing to do.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon/the-answer-cant.md)

> The meaning of my total existence involves knowing the possibilities of my future as well as my past, where I'm going as well as where I've been.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon/the-meaning-of-my-total.md)