About

“The Ability To Speak Does Not Make You Intelligent” is a memorable quote uttered by Qui-Gon Jinn (played by Liam Nesson) to Jar Jar Binks (played by Ahmed Best) from the 1999 sci-fi film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The quote is used alongside a still from the scene as a reaction image to an above caption or screenshot, typically to disagree with a statement or to show when someone or something is ignorant.

Origin

The original clip that the meme is pulled from is seen during The Phantom Menace, released on May 19th, 1999, specifically the scene where Qui-Gon Jinn and Jar Jar Binks are walking through the woods following a thwarted ambush on Naboo. During this scene (featured below), which occurs early on in the movie, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escape from an ambush by the Trade Federation and become separated. After saving Jar Jar from a group of droid tanks, Qui-Gon becomes annoyed by his behavior for almost getting them killed, calling him brainless. Jar Jar then replies that he can’t be brainless because he knows how to speak, to which Qui-Gon replies, “The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.”

Spread

Though the exact first use of the scene being used as a meme is unknown, one of the earliest examples comes from February 10th, 2017, when an anonymous Imgur^[1] user uploaded a still of the clip as a reaction image to a picture of Donald Trump (shown below).

On August 9th, 2018, Redditor^[2] hampyhamp can then be seen posting a version of the meme to the r/PrequelMemes sub under the title, “I hate it when he does that.” The post (seen below) received 182 upvotes and three comments.

Redditor^[3] JillyBoel17 posted another example on November 18th, 2018, to the r/PrequelMemes sub. The post (shown below) was upvoted nearly 48,000 times and commented on 769 times.

Various Twitter^[4] users can also be seen using the scene/quote, one of which comes from user Sith_Trooper66 on April 6th, 2019. The tweet (shown below) replies to another user who said, “Only fandom that can somehow make the Spider-Man fandom look pleasant by comparison.”

The meme also appears on the r/memes subreddit in a post from Redditor^[5] fireflew11 on April 9th, 2019. This meme (seen below) received over 18,000 upvotes and 230 comments.

Another variant posted to Reddit’s r/memes sub by Redditor^[6] icametogivememes on May 19th, 2019, uses the image as a reaction to a quote from a newspaper article. The post (seen below) received over 48,700 upvotes, almost 400 comments and a Reddit award.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References