You should follow/know these tips to 'appear' smart :

1. Hold your tongue, not literally, figuratively.
2. Have a tight leash over your anger.
3. Turn away from a dispute as much as possible.
4. Avoid misunderstandings.
5. Talk with people, and not behind them.
6. Never gossip.
7. Delete Candy Crush app and install Lumosity.
8. Work your brain more than your body.
9. Newspaper is not all about news, it is also a paper; get creative.
10. Think twice before you act, but not thrice.
11. Have a career, have a hobby.
12. Don't aim for the moon. Aim for what you think you want to achieve.
13. Don't just buy books, read them.
14. Read your academic subjects also, not just Quora.
15. Spectacles doesn't mean you are a geek. It means your eye sight is poor.
16. Learn the conversation tricks.
17. Learn how to smile while crying.
18. Learn how to earn your own money.
19. No matter how strong your stomach is, alcohol is stronger. Remember.
20. Make more acquaintances and less, but real friends.
21. Don't just listen, laugh along with them.
22. You can buy a thing, not a person. There is no choice, and no competition. Know that.
23. Realize society will always criticize you.
24. Not everyone wants you to succeed, and 'you' are on the top of that list. Get over it.
25. Practical is not smart.
26. That doesn't make emotional smart.
27. Logic isn't right always.
28. There is no right or wrong in reality.
29. Ethics vary.
30. There are no constant rules, and no constants.
31. Life goes on without love.
32. As a kid, you fall, break your hand and cry. After growing up, you fall, break your heart and cry. Your hand is perfectly fine, so will your heart be.
33. Give and take doesn't work. Give always, doesn't too.
34. Looks matter. Words matter. But, personality matters more.
35. Money buys everything, except eternal happiness and life.
36. Compromise brings happiness.
37. Sadness is compulsory.
38. Tears don't make you weak. It means, your lacrimal apparatus is functioning.
39. Don't trust everyone.
40. Sometimes it is necessary to believe people blindly.
41. Mould into a person everyone can trust.
42. Speaking truth always is foolish. White lies are acceptable.
43. People take advantage of you if you are polite always.
44. Know whom to help, and whom not to.
45. There is a limit to generosity, and kindness.
46. Being an adult doesn't mean you can't be a child anymore.
47. Children aren't innocent; adults aren't at fault every time.
48. Beware of your own expectations.
49. “You live only once” is wrong. You live every day.
50. Realize, nobody can be smart always...

Skipping some of these points, is also smartness. But, you are real smart if you can fully decipher the deeper meaning in every point.

by Dhakshitha Rao(Quora)