What is the difference between intelligence and wisdom?

Answer 1

Intelligence indicates knowledge not wisdom. A wise man knows how to use his knowledge to make a good decision. A person may have a lot of knowledge but be unable to use it properly.

Intelligence is a high-minded concept that denotes one mind being smarter than the next. Indeed, a person may be intelligent, what I call "book smart," yet display little to no common sense at all. For example, an intellectual can give you a formula for why it is wrong to step into a street with no regard for oncoming cars, but may do that exact thing by being distracted while talking on his cell phone. The formula he touts is correct, full of common sense as well as an avoidance of danger, but in reality, he was distracted the same way many of us are.

Wisdom, on the other hand, denotes life-experience: what I equate with having common sense to share with others. A wise man doesn't have to be the cliche of someone pondering life while living in a cave; he can be someone with a lifetime of experiences to share. They can be personal experiences unique unto him, or more worldly; a generalized version of the same truths. A WISE man would not have stepped in front of oncoming traffic. He would have understood the concept of imminent danger, in a way the intellect would not. He did not have an arrogant "it will never happen to me" attitude toward life; because he KNOWS life is fragile.

Answer 2

Knowledge is what you've learned; intelligence is how you use that knowledge.

Knowledge is the information you've obtained, whether through education or from life experience. Intelligence is how you've processed that knowledge.