When you go out of your way to illustrate your superior intelligence to someone, you put up a wall. That person instantly sees you as being someone to whom the

When you go out of your way to illustrate your superior intelligence to someone, you put up a wall. That person instantly sees you as being someone to whom they can not relate, and you've essentially neutered your relationship. I might have an extreme opinion, but I believe that you should often downplay your intelligence and work hard to relate to the "lowest common denominator." Many intellectuals may find this idea extremely distasteful, but they generally also fail to see the huge amounts of value to be gained from such relationships. Namely, you're able to learn the "soft skills" that many people in our field find so hard to grasp. I've learned the majority of what I know about life and dealing with people from the B/C students I've encountered along the way. The best part about this strategy is that, if you're actually intelligent, it'll probably come across _all by itself_. It's win/win.