Dialogues: Being smart vs. popular

(I received a comment from DL about 20 years ago. Here is what I wanted to say.)

Q. Gee, what if being so smart means you're not very popular?
A. I'd rather be smart than popular. A shy person can learn to be gregarious, but a stupid person can't learn to be smart. And no one can learn or improve anything unless he or she is smart in the first place.