i thought you could think it through

I read this profile of Paul Chan ten years ago and I still think about it often:

Chan says the most useful advice he received came during a conversation with the artist Amy Sillman, who was (and still is) on the faculty. “Paul,” she told him, “it’s clear that you’re very bright, but dumb people make great work, too.” This was the first time he’d realized that “the intellect had no priority, that there are different senses involved when you make forms,” he said. “At the time, I thought you could think it through.”