i'll just get right to it, my really close friend makes me feel bad sometimes. we're both ftms in our late twenties. we have a lot of common interests, such as writing and philosophy, but whenever i try to discuss these topics with him he acts disinterested and changes the subject quickly. he is friends with a lot of people who have dropped out of phd programs and even though i am a lawyer i feel like he does not want to talk about these things with me because he doesn't think i am smart enough. he told me i was "pretty smart" once but refers to his other friends as brilliant constantly. when i confessed to him once that one day i want to write something beautiful and philosophical, he told me i wasn't ready yet. i can't tell if i am being petty or not but this really hurts my feelings. 

he also constantly talks about how intelligent he is. i know he probably does this a lot because he works a minimum wage job and feels insecure, but it has started to really grate on me, especially because it is frequently in the form of humble bragging. every time someone mentions someone being smart or well read or intelligent he always buts in and says "me" or talks about how "crazy" he is for not liking television or video games and how is only happy when he is learning something etc. 

sometimes i think that he is jealous of me because i am more educated and am married to a very beautiful and talented woman whereas he lives with his parents and is single. a side note is that when i first met my wife five years ago, she was dating him casually and eventually broke up with him to date me monogamously. they remained friends and we ended up friends. he annoys my wife because she thinks that he "farts higher than his own ass" (a french idiom for thinking you are smarter than you are). she thinks it's stupid to let him get to me this way. 

i'm not going to lie- i am very insecure about my intelligence myself. when i was a kid i felt like the only thing that made me lovable was being smart, and even as an adult i am worried there's nothing else special or important about me, especially because the older i get the dumber i feel. it hits me right where it hurts to have a friend who i don't think respects my intelligence. i am worried that i am overreacting and being narcissistic and dumb. i have started to hang out/talk with him less to try to sort out my feelings a bit so i don't say something i regret. i guess i just need someone to tell me if they think i'm overreacting or being a baby.