# What makes a person more interesting - a lot of knowledge or experience? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 1, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020 "2009-02-01T20:30:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/1 "2009-02-01T20:30:42Z")
This [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=504546) got me thinking… I think I have the same trouble as the OP in the thread. I’m simply not fun/interesting enough to attract decent partners. I guess right now it is time to take responsibility to do what ever I can to make myself more fun and interesting. I’m just wondering which one I should put more investment in. Gaining more knowledge about the world, or experiencing the world? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/2 "2009-02-01T20:38:57Z")
Sometimes a person who knows a lot without having done much is considered a bore or a know-it-all. Whereas a person who’s done a lot is nearly always an interesting person to know. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/3 "2009-02-01T21:13:29Z")
Experience. Knowledge will make you more interesting in professional circles. That is the time people usually care about knowledge, when it can really help them at their jobs. At other times knowledge is only interesting when it is useful. If it is not useful it is boring trivia. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/4 "2009-02-01T21:28:05Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Whereas a person who’s done a lot is nearly always an interesting person to know. Plenty of people can bore you with recounting tales of their myriad experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/5 "2009-02-01T21:30:08Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Plenty of people can bore you with recounting tales of their myriad experiences. How is that possible? ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/6 "2009-02-01T21:32:07Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Sometimes a person who knows a lot without having done much is considered a bore or a know-it-all. Whereas a person who’s done a lot is nearly always an interesting person to know. Hmmm…I have some strikes against me here. I’ve lived a really boring life, and there’s nothing I can do to change the past. And, currently, I don’t have enough money to do tons of fun things, nor do I know a lot of people who wants to or is able to do those things with me. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/7 "2009-02-01T21:45:20Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > How is that possible? By providing a boring account. ---
**Author:** ![Diz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Diz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/8 "2009-02-01T22:00:01Z")
Make your boring stuff sound interesting and/or amusing. If you can’t do that, having more experiences and knowledge probably won’t help you. Believe me. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/9 "2009-02-01T22:14:54Z")
You narrowed the choices to Knowledge and Experience. I think in general experience wins in that fight. But they’re not the only things to make you interesting. For example you might have an interesting way of perceiving life. You might have interesting ways of reacting to things. You might have interesting opinions. You might be funny. You might have interesting quirks. And so on. You might be interestingly weird. Like… that Doper (not me). ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/10 "2009-02-01T22:53:06Z")
Like boring tales of yesterday, knowledge can be a big bore as well. The knowledge ITSELF should be interesting. Or at the very least you should be able to relay or relate that knowledge to something else in an interesting way. Otherwise knowing a bunch o stuff is just another way of showing off, which works in the short term, but gets tedious fast. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-person-more-interesting-a-lot-of-knowledge-or-experience/484020/11 "2009-02-02T01:38:42Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > By providing a boring account. Or by never shutting up about their oh-so-fascinating life. Even if the stuff you’ve done is interesting, and you talk about it with wit and style, eventually people get tired of hearing about it and want to talk about other stuff. Overall, I’ve found that the most interesting people are the ones who are genuinely interested in a wide range of stuff. I love to listen to people talk about stuff they’re enthusiastic about, even if the subject itself would ordinarily bore the tits off me. Enthusiastic people are animated, engaging people. Animated, engaging people are fun to be around. People who know a lot of stuff but aren’t interested in it tend to sound like Ben Stein in _The Wonder Years_ talking about the hellish nightmare of death and destruction. BOR-ing. Explore stuff you’re genuinely interested in–you’ll meet likeminded people, gain new experiences, and learn new stuff.