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Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Quotes

1742–1799 Germany

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German scientist, satirist, and philosopher.

Germany
Academics
Non-fiction authors
Philosophers
Physicists

Also known as: Cristoph Lichtenberg, Georg C. Lichtenberg, Georg Lichtenberg, Lichtenberg, Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph

Random Georg Christoph Lichtenberg quote

143 quotes

Doubt must be no more than vigilance, otherwise it can become dangerous.

Aphorisms (1765)

Popular presentation today is all too often that which puts the mob in a position to talk about something without understanding it.

Aphorisms (1765)

Nowadays three witty turns of phrase and a lie make a writer.

Aphorisms (1765)

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted.

Aphorisms (1765)

Much reading has brought upon us a learned barbarism.

Aphorisms (1765)

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

Aphorisms (1765)

It is in the gift for employing all the vicissitudes of life to one's own advantage and to that of one's craft that a large part of genius consists.

Aphorisms (1765)

It is said that truth comes from the mouths of fools and children: I wish every good mind which feels an inclination for satire would reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.

Aphorisms (1765)

Man can acquire accomplishments or he can become an animal, whichever he wants. God makes the animals, man makes himself.

Aphorisms (1765)

Man is always partial and is quite right to be. Even impartiality is partial.

Aphorisms (1765)

A clever child brought up with a foolish one can itself become foolish. Man is so perfectable and corruptible he can become a fool through good sense.

Aphorisms (1765)

The sure conviction that we could if we wanted to is the reason so many good minds are idle.

Aphorisms (1765)

What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment.

Aphorisms (1765)

I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.

Aphorisms (1765)

Even if my philosophy does not extend to discovering anything new, it does nevertheless possess the courage to regard as questionable what has long been thought true.

The Waste Books (1799)

He who knows himself properly can very soon learn to know all other men. It is all reflection.

Aphorisms (1765)

I have written a good number of drafts and small reflections. They are not waiting for the last touch but for the sunlight to wake them up.

Aphorisms (1765)

Just as we outgrow a pair of trousers, we outgrow acquaintances, libraries, principles, etc., at times before they're worn out and at times—and this is the worst of all—before we have new ones.

Of all the inventions of man I doubt whether any was more easily accomplished than that of a Heaven.

Aphorisms (1765)

We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.

Aphorisms (1765)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.