Now that season 2 of Flight Attendant has aired, The Big Bang Theory fans love watching Kaley Cuoco (Penny) in a different role. As great and award-worthy as HBO's Flight Attendant is, however, fans still have a soft spot for Cuoco's role in TBBT.
On TBBT, Penny wasn't as book smart as her future husband Leonard or best friend Amy, but socially she was the smartest. Penny had some underrated quotes that proved how intelligent she could be when it came to sports, parties, and general conversation. Unlike Sheldon, she understood sarcasm and unlike Raj, she knew how to carry on a conversation with anyone and everyone. If fans comb through the smart quotes from Sheldon and Leonard, they'll hear how smart Penny was.
Updated on August 29th, 2022, by Lynn Gibbs: The Big Bang Theory’s Penny was often the butt of the joke among her friends. As one of the less-educated members of the group, Penny never felt smart enough when conversing with Sheldon, Leonard, and even Amy, about work or their hobbies. As Big Bang Theory continued, Penny learned a lot from her loved ones, but she was also smart in her own right. Unlike her friends, Penny had street smarts and a social understanding that couldn’t be taught. While Sheldon was known for his quotes on String Theory and physics, Penny shouldn’t be discredited for her smart moments as well.
"You E-Mail Me Your Bathroom Schedule Once A Week, Even Though I've Clicked Unsubscribe, Like, 1,000 Times."
The Celebration Experimentation (Season 9, Episode 17)
In 'The Celebration Experimentation," Penny proved her friendship with Sheldon was one of the best in the series when she talked him through a panic attack.
Sheldon was overwhelmed by all the faces at his birthday party and ran to the bathroom to catch his breath. When Penny asked to go into the bathroom with him, he asked her "How do you know I'm not using the facilities?" Penny responded that she was smart enough to know his bathroom schedule since he emailed it to her every week. While Sheldon's friends ignored him and his schedule, Penny always remembered.
"...The Monoamine Oxidase Enzyme Was Discovered By A Woman, Mary Bernheim."
The Workplace Proximity (Season 7, Episode 5)
Penny had her moments when she was smarter than the guys but in 'The Workplace Proximity,' she was smarter than Amy and Bernadette.
While the women were at Penny's apartment talking about Bernadette and Amy's job, Penny wanted to join in on the conversation and chimed in with this quote. Amy and Bernadette were stunned that Penny knew what a monoamine oxidase enzyme was and who Mary Bernheim was. In reality, Penny Googled the fact, but she was smart enough to join the conversation by Googling a few facts beforehand!
"A Smart Guy Like You; It'll Be A Challenge. You Could Make It Like An Experiment."
The Gorilla Experiment (Season 3, Episode 10)
In 'The Gorilla Experiment,' Penny asked Sheldon to teach her about physics so she could understand Leonard's work now that they were dating. Sheldon knew teaching her would never go well so he declined.
Penny knew the only way to get what she wanted was to entice Sheldon through science. She told him teaching her would be like an experiment, and it was the word experiment that worked on Sheldon. He wound up teaching her a few things to see how good of a teacher he could be. However, it was Penny's negotiating skills that were the smartest.
"I Know Sheldon Doesn’t Eat Dessert On Tuesdays And Even If Raj Wanted Something He Couldn't Tell Me..."
The Hot Troll Deviation (Season 4, Episode 4)
Characters like Sheldon made fun of Penny's chosen profession as a waitress, but that didn't mean Penny wasn't educated or smart enough. If anything, Penny learned a lot of life skills as a waitress and proved she knew the men better than they knew themselves in season 4.
“Well, I’d ask you guys if you want dessert, but I know Sheldon doesn’t eat dessert on Tuesdays and even if Raj wanted something he couldn’t tell me. Howard won’t order anything but he will come up with some sort of skeevy comment involving the words pie or cheesecake. And Leonard’s lactose intolerant so he can’t eat anything here without his intestines blowing up like a balloon animal.”
After the men ate, Penny explained why each one of the men wouldn't order dessert. Her observations of her friends over the years proved to be correct, because Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard were speechless at this quote. Penny was spot on and she was smarter than they realized.
"You Sign Anything She Puts In Front Of You, Because You Are The Luckiest Man Alive..."
The Vacation Solution (Season 5, Episode 16)
In season 5, Penny was confused when Howard and Bernadette hit a rough patch in their engagement. When Bernadette's dad encouraged her to sign a prenup, Howard had second guesses about their marriage. Many felt that Howard got worse and worse after this, because he was never going to find someone as good as Bernadette again.
"All right, Howard Wolowitz, listen up! You sign anything she puts in front of you, because you are the luckiest man alive. If you let her go, there is no way you can find anyone else. Speaking on behalf of all women, it is not going to happen, we had a meeting."
Penny heard about the prenup debacle and gave Howard a stern talking to. While harsh, Penny wasn't wrong. In fact, this quote was one of the smartest because she was the only one giving Howard an honest opinion on the life altering mistake he was about to make.
"The Transport Of Electrons Through The Aperture Of The Nano-Fabricated Metal Rings Is Qualitatively..."
The Gorilla Experiment (Season 3, Episode 10)
Some fans didn't think Penny and Leonard's relationship made sense since they didn't have much in common. Because of this, Penny did what she could to understand Leonard's work. As aforementioned, Penny did take something away from Sheldon's physics lesson.
"The Transport Of Electrons Through The Aperture Of The Nano-Fabricated Metal Rings Is Qualitatively No Different Than The Experiment Already Conducted In The Netherlands."
While the group ate dinner, Penny impressed everyone by saying the quote above. Without explaining that Sheldon taught her for an entire afternoon, she left the entire room speechless at her smarts.
"Excuse me, The Word Is Polish! See? Small P."
The Re-entry Minimization (Season 6, Episode 4)
In 'The Re-entry Minimization,' Sheldon and Leonard went head-to-head against Amy and Penny in a game of battle of the sexes. The hilarious scenes summed up Amy and Penny's fun friendship as they schooled Leonard and Sheldon in every category.
In one game, Sheldon and Amy had to read a card and then draw what they read on the whiteboard. While Leonard struggled to guess what Sheldon drew, Amy guessed correctly immediately. Sheldon thought the word said Polish but as Penny pointed out, lowercase P made the word polish, as in nail polish.
"In The Winter, That Seat Is Close Enough To The Radiator So That He's Warm Yet Not So Close That He Sweats..."
The Gorilla Experiment (Season 3, Episode 10)
At the start of Bernadette and Howard's relationship timeline, he invited her to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment to have dinner with the group, as they always had.
"Oh no, you see in the winter, that seat is close enough to the radiator so he's warm yet not so close that he sweats. In the summer it's directly in the path of a cross-breeze created by opening windows there and there. It faces the television at an angle that isn't direct so he can still talk to everybody yet not so wide that the picture looks distorted."
Bernadette tried to sit on Sheldon's special spot on the couch, but everyone gasped at the attempt. Knowing how strict Sheldon was with his spot, Penny told Bernadette why Sheldon "had" to sit there. She told HER word-for-word what Sheldon told her years prior. Everyone was so impressed by her smart response that Sheldon grew newfound respect for Penny.
"Your King Is Trapped. He Can't Go Here Because of My Lighthouse..."
The Werewolf Transformation (Season 5, Episode 18)
It's an unpopular opinion to not respect Penny's attempts at understanding what her friends were interested in. She watched Star Wars, Harry Potter, and she played Dungeons and Dragons... Penny also learned how to play chess.
"Your King Is Trapped. He Can't Go Here Because of My Lighthouse, And He Can't Go Here Because Of My Pointy-Head Guy."
With Leonard as her teacher, Penny learned how to play the game and beat him rather quickly. Leonard was stunned that Penny learned so fast and didn't expect to lose. Penny asked Leonard if she won, and even though she didn't know the correct terminology, she did!
"It's... It's A String. How Hard Can It Be? It's straight, It's In A Loop, It Gets Knotted Up With Other Strings."
The Solo Oscillation (Season 11, Episode 13)
Penny had a rather remarkable transformation over the years. She went from a struggling actress who didn't care much about the feelings of others to someone who cared about what her friends did in and outside of work.
When Sheldon was having a hard time with String Theory, Penny took the time to fully understand what he was trying to solve. After repeating what she learned from Sheldon, it was Penny's phrasing that led Sheldon to a breakthrough. Because of what Penny said, Sheldon realized he never looked at strings as sheets, which allowed more possibilities.
"Um, There's This Cat In A Box And Until You Open It, It's Either Dead Or Alive Or Both."
The Russian Rocket Reaction (Season 5, Episode 5)
Amy had an amazing transformation The Big Bang Theory. After being aloof in her first season, she slowly became friends with Penny and Bernadette and transformed into a social butterfly with endless possibilities.
In 'The Russian Rocket Reaction,' Sheldon taught Penny about Schrödinger's Cat. Penny wasn't interested in the comparison between Sheldon and Leonard's friendship and a cat, but she learned from it. Later, the Schrödinger's Cat experiment was brought up again and Penny proved that she did, in fact, learn from it. She explained the experiment in terms that worked for her. While it wasn't the most polished description, Penny's version was smart, and more importantly, correct.
"It Might Look More Natural If You Talk To Me Instead Of The Camera... Like A Real Conversation."
The Viewing Party Combustion (Season 9, Episode 21)
In an episode of Fun with Flags, Sheldon had Penny on as a guest to teach her more about flags. While they were filming, Penny stopped the camera and gave Sheldon some much-needed advice.
Instead of talking to the camera with little emotion, Penny suggested he talk to her like they were having a real conversation. This was a tip she learned from acting class, and it ended up being the smartest advice she gave to Sheldon because it paid off in his episodes.
"...But The One You Use To Make Yourself Feel Pretty Again."
The Solo Oscillation (Season 11, Episode 13)
In 'The Solo Oscillation,' Sheldon felt like he was at a dead end with String Theory and wanted to move on to another field of physics, Dark Matter. When the university wouldn't let him switch fields, he wondered if what he was doing was even worth it.
"Well, Not The Science You Spend The Rest Of Your Life With, But The One You Use To Make Yourself Feel Pretty Again."
Sheldon talked to Penny about his struggles and she helped him see things more clearly. Penny referred to Dark Matter as Sheldon's "rebound science" and told him what he was going through was essentially a breakup. A quote like this perfectly summed up Penny's character. The only way to move on was to end things with String Theory and move on. Relating scientific matters to things she comprehends was smart of Penny.