Tradução de "They are too clever to be believed."

O que me intriga no texto abaixo é que o autor fala que o cara é muito inteligente para que os participantes da reunião possam acreditar na sua conversa. Ué, não deveria ser o contrário? Gostaria que me ajudassem na interpretação.

I think at that time none of us really believed in the Time Machine. The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed. You never felt that you knew everything about him. You always thought that something was hidden, that he was playing a trick on you. If Filby showed us the model and explained things in the Time Traveller's words, we would believe him more easily. We would understand his reasons - because anyone could understand Filby. But the Time Traveller had a strong imagination and we didn't really believe him.

Albert, o fato é que "smart" é inteligente no sentido de ser prático, ter esperteza, sagacidade, solucionar problemas, etc...

Look:

smart adjective ... (INTELLIGENT)
​Intelligent, or able to think and understand quickly in difficult situations:
Jed’s smart enough to get A’s in this class.
Her daughter is smarter than she is.
Ginny is a very smart kid.
Quitting that job was a smart move.

From Cambridge Dictionary

Minha dica é: procure entender o texto como um todo (num contexto, digamos). Um dos termos que revelam o que o autor quis dizer é "trick", que é pregar peça, enganar, usar de truque... Então a(s) pessoa(s) é(são) inteligente(s)/esperta(s) e "pode(m)" usar de suas artimanhas pra te ludibriar, enganar.

I guess that is the point, right!

They are too clever to be believed."
Eles são muito espertinhos pra gente acreditar neles.

Cinnamon escreveu:Albert, o fato é que "smart" é inteligente no sentido de ser prático, ter esperteza, sagacidade, solucionar problemas, etc...

Cinnamon, toda sua resposta foi referente ao adjetivo smart, sendo que no texto foi usado clever.

Sorry pela confusão, Albert!

"Clever" e "Smart" podem ser sinônimos. Lol

Look:

Clever
Quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligent.
‘she was an extremely clever and studious young woman’
‘how clever of him to think of this!’

1.1 Skilled at doing or achieving something; talented.
‘he was very clever at getting what he wanted’
‘both Grandma and Mother were clever with their hands’

1.2 Showing skill and originality; ingenious.
‘a simple but clever idea for helping people learn computing’
‘he taught the dog to perform some very clever tricks’

From Oxford Dictionary

Cheers!