There is no doubt that metis is a type of intelligence and of thought, a way of knowing; it
implies a complex but very coherent body of mental attitudes and intellectual
behaviour which combine flair, wisdom, forethought, subtlety of mind, deception,
resourcefulness, vigilance, opportunism, various skills, and experience
acquired over the years. It is applied to situations which are transient,
shifting, disconcerting and ambiguous, situations which do not lend themselves
to precise measurement, exact calculation or rigorous logic.
Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre
Vernant, Cunning
Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society, Trans. Janet Lloyd (Chicago:U of
Chicago P, 1991): 3-4.