Full Idea
Intelligence flourishes only in the ages when beliefs wither. ...Every period's ending is the mind's paradise, for the mind regains its play and its whims only within an organism in utter dissolution.
Gist of Idea
Intelligence only fully flourishes at the end of a historical period
Source
E.M. Cioran (A Short History of Decay [1949], 1 'Felicity')
Book Reference
Cioran,E.M.: 'A Short History of Decay', ed/tr. Howard,Richard [Penguin 2010], p.84
A Reaction
I wouldn't have thought that the facts of history supported this very well. The golden ages of philosophy are the Age of Pericles, the Aristotelian Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the early twentieth century.