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Luck runs out so I'd rather be smart if I had to choose between the two. But some luck is needed to parlay smarts into success.
Mike Tyson was lucky to be born with the raw skills to be a dominant boxer, and he was lucky to be discovered and trained to utilize his skill. It made him millions of dollars, but he wasn't smart enough to be able to keep that money.
In the real world it seems that smart doesn't mean being an "A" student in college. It seems to be equated with those who have more money than others. Therefore in that view, I think smart means being able to take advantage of simple opportunities as they come by and realize their benefits or potential benefits.
Not everybody involved in the internet in 1994-1996 are millionaires today. Some people saw the benefits while others didn't.
As somebody mentioned earlier, being intelligent or a genius may not lend itself to financial success. Mark Twain, Einstein, Joseph Conrad, many of the great philosophers, many of the researchers discovering new cures and treatments, many of the scientific thinkers of the past, weren't rich and a number of them died as poppers or were hated, undervalued, and misunderstood in their own time.
On the flip side, luck is very important because some people are lucky to be born with better brains and born into better families and better countries than others.
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