People With Big Brains & Zero Integrity Usually Say 8 Phrases That Rattle Everyone Else
SeventyFour from Getty Images via CanvaIntellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence are two completely different things. Someone can be smart but only use their smarts to help themselves.
This combination of a sharp mind with a lack of integrity can feel even more unsettling than dealing with people who are straight-up rude, but their gift for manipulation is easy to spot in what they say. Despite how intelligent they might be, they can't get away with their bad behavior forever.
People who have big brains but no integrity tend to say certain phrases that throw everyone else off
1. ‘It’s not like I really lied’
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It feels really uncomfortable when people start to justify the lies they tell. That’s because it’s usually not a big deal for people to lie so they can avoid hurting someone’s feelings, but there’s hardly ever any justification for a lie someone tells for their own benefit.
In this situation, there’s almost no chance that person lied to be nice. They were doing what was best for them, and now they’re splitting hairs by saying they were only bending the truth a little.
We’re all taught that lying is bad when we’re really young, so it’s bizarre to hear someone defend themselves after they lie. Even if they’re smart, they definitely don’t have any integrity.
2. ‘What works isn’t always what’s moral’
It might sound pretty crazy, but it’s not that difficult for people who don’t really care about others to rationalize their bad behavior. They might say what they did wasn’t obviously wrong, or that it’s actually going to help people in the long run.
Blurring ethical lines isn’t something the average person is willing to do, of course. That makes it really troubling when someone can do it without batting an eye. They’re using their intelligence for all the wrong reasons.
3. ‘You have to use people to get what you want’
There are a lot of different reasons someone might manipulate other people. Anyone who says this is making it clear that they were only focused on their own interests.
This sounds like a totally foreign concept to some people. They’ll be left trying to understand how anyone could think it’s OK to use another person as a means to an end instead of treating them with dignity. But that’s the thing about smart people with no integrity. Everything they do is for themselves. They don’t care about other people who get hurt along the way.
4. ‘I’m good at telling people what they want to hear’
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Sometimes it's fine to tell people what they want to hear, but that’s not the case when someone uses their intelligence to manipulate others into doing what they want. These people aren’t trying to be helpful, unless you count helping themselves. They see everyone else as pawns that they can move around to make their own lives easier.
What they say might be what people want to hear because it sounds good, but it’s probably coming dangerously close to being a lie. There’s almost no chance the other person would want that.
5. ‘You don’t want to know how I made that happen’
This phrase might feel the most disturbing of all because it’s an admission that the way someone did something would seem totally wrong to other people. They’re trying to keep everyone’s focus on the outcome instead of what they did to get there.
These people obviously have no problem lying, which is on full display here. Deceiving people by refusing to be honest is a lie, even if they try to spin it differently. They aren’t doing anyone any favors by sparing them the truth.
6. ‘It’s not my fault that they fell for it’
This phrase translates to, “If I did something wrong, they should have been smart enough to realize what was happening.” It’s like someone is absolving themselves of wrongdoing by saying no one knew it was wrong.
People play the blame game to make it look like others are responsible for their own actions. There’s nothing logical about that, but they don’t care as long as they don’t have to take accountability.
Sometimes people try to shift blame to others in pretty minor situations, but this isn’t one of them. It’s like they’re blaming the victim for what they did to them.
7. ‘There’s no reason for me to feel guilty’
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Guilt is a really complicated emotion. It’s easy to take it too far and feel a toxic amount. But a healthy sense of guilt can let people know when they’re about to hurt someone else.
Feeling guilty after doing something wrong is an important reminder. When someone writes that off and refuses to feel any valid guilt, it’s like they’re saying they don’t care about how their actions impact others.
There are actually plenty of reasons to feel guilty, especially for people acting without integrity. They can’t use their intelligence to explain away the bad things they do.
8. ‘Stop worrying about everyone else’
It sounds helpful to tell someone they don’t need to worry so much, since a lot of people really struggle with that. It’s different when it comes from someone with big brains and no integrity because they’re telling them not to worry about how the things they do hurt others.
These people put themselves first, and they don’t understand why other people don’t do the same thing. They’re saying the people who get hurt don’t matter as long as they reach their goals, which is a really twisted way of thinking.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
