Kourtney Kardashian at times doesn’t act like she fits with the rest of her family. Now, that’s not to say that Kourtney doesn’t love her family or that she’s trying to distance herself away from them. Instead, many fans and critics would agree that she’s simply different, and in a good way. In fact, many would go as far as saying that Kourtney Kardashian might be the smartest sibling out of the entire Kardashian bunch.

Of course, many critics could debate whether or not that statement is true all day and night, but one thing is for sure: Kourtney is not like the rest of Kris Jenner’s daughters. She’s not trying to establish her own brand in the same way that Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have. She’s not dying to settle down with her own children and husband the same way Khloé Kardashian has. And she’s certainly not trying to use the Kardashian name to help boost an international modeling career like Kendall Jenner. Instead, she’s doing things her way, even when it doesn’t align with what the rest of her family is doing. With that being said, here are 15 reasons why Kourtney Kardashian might be the smarter sister.

She’s Not Hungry For Success

Compared to her sisters, Kourtney Kardashian is not as hungry for success or for the public spotlight for that matter. Sure, she posts on social media just as often as Kim, Khloé and the rest of the Kardashians and Jenners do, but she has less of an agenda. When one of her sisters has something important to celebrate, she doesn’t try to steal their thunder like certain other members of her family (hint, hint, Kim).

Kourtney could easily fall off the map or end up in celebrity obscurity and no one would even notice. In fact, Kourtney has said that she has plenty of other projects in the pipeline that she would like to pursue one day instead.

Kourtney once said (via The Huffington Post): “Someday, if I have more time, that’s a passion I’d love to pursue ― fixing up another house, showing other people how it’s done. When I fill out a form at passport control I always struggle with what to say when it asks for my profession: businesswoman or TV personality or mum ― I mean, number one is always mum. I do become a recluse once in a while. It's so nice to just be at home and to not have to deal with the outside world.”

She’s Not In A Hurry To Settle Down

If there’s one thing that we’ve learned about Kourtney Kardashian over the years, is that she’s not in a hurry to settle down. She’s been on and off with her ex Scott Disick for years but she finally pulled the plug on their relationship last year. Even though she shares three children with him, she doesn’t feel the need to get married the same way her sisters Kim and Khloé do.

Plus, we’ve all seen Kourtney and Scott together and in front of the cameras, right? There’s a reason why their relationship seemed like such a train wreck all the time. Simply put, they are just too incompatible with one another.

Kourtney doesn’t want to go through all that noise of getting married just to divorce a few short years later. It wouldn’t be fair to her, to Scott, or their three children.

Scott once told US Weekly back in 2011, “There have been times where I wanted to get married more than she did, and maybe there were even times when she wanted to get married more than I did. But at this point, I just don’t think it really changes anything. We have what we need, so that’s enough.”

Her Kids Are Her Top Priority

No matter where she goes or what she does, her children will always be her number one priority in her life. In fact, many fans and critics alike would agree that Kourtney would drop the entire celebrity lifestyle and her reality television career, should her children ask her to step away. After all, she’s got the money. She’s achieved everything she’s wanted to achieve. What else is there left to do?

In 2009, Kourtney told Life & Style Weekly, “I used to get up and literally not stop until at least midnight. I really don’t miss my freedom at all — there’s nothing I’d rather do than be home with Mason and Scott. We relax, eat, sleep, play. Our biggest plans now are taking Mason out for a stroll or giving Mason his first bath. It’s amazing how fulfilling those things are for me.”

Back in 2010, Kourtney also said, “Motherhood has most definitely changed me and my life. It's so crazy how drastic even the small details change – in such an amazing way. Even silly things, like the fact that all of my pictures on my cell phone used to be of me at photo shoots – conceited, I know! – but now every single picture on my phone is of Mason.”

She Doesn’t Always Listen To Her Mother

As many people have figured out already, Kris Jenner is the matriarch of the Kardashian family. If it weren’t for her, many people wouldn’t even be talking about the Kardashians today. Their 15 minutes of fame would have been up along time ago. With that being said though, Kourtney doesn’t always listen to her mother. And she knows that she doesn’t have to. She might be her eldest daughter, but she’s not her most profitable one like Kim is. Therefore, she doesn’t have to follow her mother’s Kardashian rules and regulations all the time.

But at the same time, Kourtney is trying to be a good role model for her own daughter, Penelope. She knows that the tot is always watching her, everyday.

She told Elle Magazine, “Well, Penelope sees me getting makeup and hair done all the time. She plays in my closet all the time, and tries on my clothes. But I don’t think that counteracts being smart, or a great leader, or anything like that. My sisters and I watched our mom get dressed all the time. We always played with her makeup. We always tried on her clothes and shoes. And so Penelope does too, because it’s part of how kids play.”

She’s Not Trying To Be Like Kim

A lot of people like to compare Kourtney Kardashian with her little sister, Kim Kardashian. But truth be told, they are two completely different people with very little in common. She doesn’t try to push herself in the limelight the same way Kim has these last several years. And she’s certainly not trying to be like her. In fact, she’s not even envious of Kim and all the attention that she gets. She’s never wanted to be a media target the same way Kim has been. And thank goodness she hasn’t been one in the same scale, either.

With that being said, Kourtney has pointed out that she is often shamed for being who she is or how she looks like. She told the Daily Mail, “Just being comfortable in your skin is a blessing. I feel that people think it’s OK to skinny-shame, but it’s just as bad as calling people fat. I love going to the gym because it makes me feel great. I work out a lot with Khloé just running or hiking. Eating well is part of the same lifestyle, but now and then I like to live a bit dangerously. I had a Krispy Kreme doughnut last night and it was delicious.”

She Has Different Opinions

Many people have noticed by now that Kourtney operates much differently than the rest of the family. First and foremost, she has different opinions. And she has different values than everyone else. For anyone who has watched at least one episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, they will know that Kourtney does everything in her power to make sure that her children grow up as healthy and organic as possible. That can’t be said about the rest of the Kardashian and Jenner sisters who are also mothers like Kourtney.

Speaking about how she often has mom guilty, Kourtney told Fit Pregnancy, “After Mason was born, I’d feel guilty doing anything that wasn’t related to work. If it was a good friend’s birthday and I had to go to dinner, I’d think, ‘I don’t want to be here. I want to be at home.’ After my daughter was born, I made a promise to myself to live in the moment. Now, if I have to go to New York for work for one night, I’ll meet my friends for dinner and really enjoy it… Also, Mason and Penelope have each other now, so I don’t feel as guilty about leaving them occasionally.”

She’s The Most Original

When we say that Kourtney Kardashian is the most original, we mean that she’s the one Kardashian sister who has stayed true to herself. In fact, many people will agree that Kourtney hasn’t changed much since Keeping Up With the Kardashians first debuted nearly a decade ago. While the rest of the family looks almost unrecognizable, Kourtney hasn’t gone down that route.

Sure, she might be a little more glamorous and a little more media savvy, but she hasn’t completely changed her look to fit a certain standard. And thank goodness for that, too.

Also, Kourtney spends more time with her kids at home than with her doctor in Beverly Hills. In other words, she’s got better things to worry about. She’s not as obsessed with her looks like her sisters are (we don’t want to name names but we’ll do it anyway, Kim and Kylie) because she’s more obsessed with her kids. Speaking about how she loves being a hands-on mother, Kourtney told Fit Pregnancy back in 2013, “I love doing everything myself at the beginning. I’m not getting a baby nurse. I take two months off and no one is allowed to bother me or talk to me about anything work-related — or maybe three months this time.”

She’s The Most Educated

Believe it or not, Kourtney Kardashian is the most educated person out of her entire family. In fact, she the only one out of all her siblings to go to college and finish with a degree. It might not be a degree that she uses on an everyday basis, but it’s one that she has nonetheless.

Believe it or not, Kourtney actually attended the Southern Methodist University in Texas for two years before transferring to the University of Arizona in Tucson. There, she ended up graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Spanish. So there are your Kardashian Kredentials for you!

Her mother Kris once told The Hollywood Reporter, “We’ve created businesses and a workplace. It’s so funny that somebody can criticize a show like ours, and yet we employ hundreds of people. And it’s been such a great learning experience for all of my kids. It’s the best education I could offer them. So many women give up in life when they get a little bit older. I want to be a positive influence. I want to come from a really good place. Some people are just lost, and maybe I can be an inspiration.”

She’s Not Over-The-Top

Now, before we get into this, yes, we agree that Kourtney Kardashian loves to tease her fans, and especially on social media, too. But when she does it, at least it comes off as tasteful. Simply put, she’s not into vulgarity. She’s not into shocking people by posing in her bathing suit with nothing more than a trash bag or going full frontal on Instagram, for that matter. That’s just not her style nor will it ever be. By now we’ve all seen the photos that have been produced by the rest of the family, right? Even though Kourtney has technically posed in a compromising state before, it was never done to shock people or start up a scandal. She’s not interested in those kinds of headlines.

Also, there’s a reason why her kids will never watch her family’s reality television show. Her son Mason once caught a glimpse of it on television, and it was too much for her to handle. She told Cosmo, “They’ve seen some of it, but no. I was in the shower, [Mason] woke up, and it happened to be on. He was like, ‘Who is Blac Chyna? And Kiki [Kim] showed Larsa [Pippen] her [private parts]!’ I was like, this is why they don’t watch the show. Some of the content is just not appropriate.”

She’s Comfortable With Her Lifestyle

Simply put, Kourtney Kardashian really doesn’t care what other people think about her, her family, or her lifestyle for that matter. She’s not obsessed with every little thing that is written about her in the tabloids. Now, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t read the comments section of her social media accounts. Instead, she doesn’t let all of the nasty things that have been said about her break her, for lack of a better term.

Also, Kourtney is the more health-conscious sister of the family. Her healthy lifestyle is not only important to her, but for her kids, too. Kourtney truly is the different Kardashian sister. It’s almost as if she could live in her own world and not be bothered by everything that goes on around her.

Meanwhile, despite all of her fame and being a household name, Kourtney says that she’s still surprised whenever people recognize her on the street. She told the Daily Mail, “I love having a place where I can share things, but I don’t live my life thinking, 'I’m a role model,' I still feel surprised when I’m recognized in the street. I forget that so many people know who I am and have seen me give birth.”

She’s Done With Spin-Off Shows

While her sisters Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian an even Kylie Jenner are all still vying for the spotlight, Kourtney is done. She doesn’t want to do another exhausting spin-off show that will most likely get canceled after two seasons. She’ll put in whatever work she needs to put in for Keeping Up With the Kardashians and that’s it. At this point, she knows there’s only so much you can do or say in front of the cameras before it starts getting old and repetitive. And in some cases, it has gotten old and repetitive.

While defending her daughters, Kris once told Redbook Magazine in an interview, “It’s annoying when I hear, ‘What do your girls do?’ Well, first of all, all of my daughters have jobs. They are fashion stylists and designers; they own a chain of stores. They had the stores before they had the show. And my kids worked from the time they were 13 years old. So to me, that’s a huge misconception that the girls don’t work. They work 25 hours a day. They might not be singers or dancers, but they certainly know how to produce a television show. Whether you want to call it talent or not, they have multiple shows on the air. How many shows do you have?”

She Doesn’t Sell Out

Sure, Kourtney does what she needs to in order to get paid for promotional posts on social media. But it’s not like every other reality television stars these days don’t do the same. For Kourtney, it’s not her sole income. She doesn’t have to sell out like so many C and D list reality television stars out there. She’s got her millions and at this point in her life, she could easily walk away from it all and be happy with what she’s got.

Plus, Kourtney has made it no secret that she’s waiting for the end to happen already. And by that, we mean the end of her family’s reality television show. After all, there are only so many seasons you can film of your family being totally inappropriate with one another, right? It has to all end some day.

Speaking about the end of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kourtney told the Daily Mail, “I don’t want the show to end, but I sometimes think I would be so happy if it did and I could just move away from it all. By the end of every season I’ve had enough, but then once we have had a break I’m ready for more.”

She’s More Realistic

We’ve said this before and we will say it again: Kourtney Kardashian isn’t like the others. She walks her own path. She does her own thing. And she certainly has her own life mottos. But at the same time, she’s more realistic that her sisters. While Kim and Khloé are out there chasing their dream lives, Kourtney knows that some things are just unachievable. For example, as much as she wanted to have an ideal family with Scott, it just didn’t happen in their favor. For Kourtney, there’s just no reason for her to try and chase what is the unattainable. She works with what she already has and makes the most of it.

Kourtney once told Cosmo in an interview, “The idea of having my family together is amazing, but it’s not the way things ended up. They may end up there. I’m not sure. To me, it’s in God’s hands. If it’s meant to be, then things will line up… We definitely tried for a long time. But relationships are exhausting! Being able to focus on the kids and me right now is good. We say to each other all the time, ‘I’m the coolest ex-girlfriend/baby mama you could ever ask for!’”

She Refuses To Make The Same Mistake Twice

One of the reasons why Kourtney Kardashian is so careful with the moves she makes is because she’s seen all the mistakes her sisters and brother have made, and she certainly doesn’t want to repeat after them. She doesn’t want to have three marriages and three divorces under her belt. She doesn’t want to heavily invest herself in a relationship or rely on a man to give her what she needs. At this point in her life, Kourtney knows that she can easily take care of herself and her three kids without being held down by a man in her life.

With that being said, Kourtney still does a good job of co-parenting with Scott. No matter what, he will always be a part of her life because of their three kids. There’s just no way around it. She told The Daily Mail, “I find co-parenting really easy. Scott and I communicate all the time. You have to keep discussing what’s going on because as the children grow older, the rules need to be renegotiated. We make sure we go on days out together because the kids love it, but it’s really hard when you’re at the zoo and there are cameras in your face all day.”

Her Happiness Is All That Matters

Kourtney knows that she doesn’t have to please anyone in her life, and especially if she doesn’t want to. Her mother Kris Jenner doesn’t rely on her the same way she relies on Kim or Kylie. She’s not trying to prove herself to the world the same way as Khloé and Kendall. And she certainly isn’t as naïve as her brother, Rob Kardashian. For Kourtney, the only thing that really matters is her own happiness – and that’s it. All she needs is love and a smile on her face.

Kourtney once said (via Brainy Quotes): “I am obsessed with my sisters. Being the oldest, I probably just have that in me. But I also think I am the youngest sometimes. We all have moments when we are the maternal one of the group.”

Clearly, Kourtney loves her sisters, her children, her family, her life, and of course, all of the wealth that is currently sitting in her bank account. Life is great, to say the least. But watch this space. We have a feeling that we will be hearing much more of Kourtney in the near future. She still has so much to show the world. As a matter of fact, she’s only gotten started.