In The Catcher in the Rye, what does Holden mean when he says that Mr. Vinson had intelligence but he didn't have "too much brains."

is talking
to , who is quizzing him about flunking out at Pencey. Mr. Antolini says Holden couldn't have
possibly failed his writing course, calling him, rather patronizingly, his "little ace
composition writer."

Holden says no, he passed that class, but goes on
to discuss flunking his oral composition class. If you digressed from your topic while speaking,
the rest of the class was supposed to call out "" right away to get you back on track.
That was upsetting to Holden, who liked to digress.

When Mr. Antolini
continues to challenge Holden on the importance of sticking to a point, Holden brings up his
teacher Mr. Vinson. Mr. Vinson was a stickler for unity in writing and advocated for writing
simply. When Holden refers to him as having "intelligence" but not "too many
brains," he means Mr. Vinson is knowledgeable and can grasp a point but is not creative in
thinking outside of a preconceived box. Holden is saying that the rules are guidelines that
sometimes have to be broken to express one's truth, because everything isn't always linear and
straightforward.