Georg C. Lichtenberg Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“It thunders, howls, roars, hisses, whistles, blusters, hums, growls, rumbles, squeaks, groans, sings, crackles, cracks, rattles, flickers, clicks, snarls, tumbles, whimpers, whines, rustles, murmurs, crashes, clucks, to gurgle, tinkles, blows, snores, claps, to lisp, to cough, it boils, to scream, to weep, to sob, to croak, to stutter, to lisp, to coo, to breathe, to clash, to bleat, to neigh, to grumble, to scrape, to bubble. These words, and others like them, which express sounds are more than mere symbols: they are a kind of hieroglyphics for the ear.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“Once we know our weaknesses they cease to do us any harm.”
-- Georg C. LichtenbergSource : "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook D 5, 1799.
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“A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted.”
-- Georg C. LichtenbergSource : "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook H 7, 1799.
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“Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age.”
-- Georg C. LichtenbergSource : "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook C 33, 1799.
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“The great rule: If the little bit you have is nothing special in itself, at least find a way of saying it that is a little bit special.”
-- Georg C. LichtenbergSource : "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook E 55, 1799.
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“If people should ever start to do only what is necessary millions would die of hunger.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
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“Doubt must be no more than vigilance, otherwise it can become dangerous.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation.”
-- Georg C. LichtenbergSource : "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook D 96, 1799.
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“Love is blind, but marriage restores its sight.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“It is strange that only extraordinary men make the discoveries, which later appear so easy and simple.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
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“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“One must judge men not by their opinions, but by what their opinions have made of them.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“The sure conviction that we could if we wanted to is the reason so many good minds are idle.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“Astronomy is perhaps the science whose discoveries owe least to chance, in which human understanding appears in its whole magnitude, and through which man can best learn how small he is.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
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“The proof that man is the noblest of all creatures is that no other creature has ever denied it.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“Man loves company - even if it is only that of a small burning candle.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“Men still have to be governed by deception.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely. Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war?”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
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“If all mankind were suddenly to practice honesty, many thousands of people would be sure to starve”
-- Georg C. LichtenbergSource : "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook C 54, 1799.
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“Just as we outgrow a pair of trousers, we outgrow acquaintances, libraries, principles, etc., at times before they're worn out and times - and this is the worst of all - before we have new ones.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“To be content with life or to live merrily, rather all that is required is that we bestow on all things only a fleeting, superficial glance; the more thoughtful we become the more earnest we grow.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
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“The "second sight" possessed by the Highlanders in Scotland is actually a foreknowledge of future events. I believe they possess this gift because they don't wear trousers.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“The lower classes of men, though they do not think it worthwhile to record what they perceive, nevertheless perceive everything that is worth noting; the difference between them and a man of learning often consists in nothing more than the latter's facility for expression.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
“One of our forefathers must have read a forbidden book.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg -
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“One has to do something new in order to see something new.”
-- Georg C. LichtenbergSource : "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook J 1770, 1799.
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“They do not think, therefore they are not.”
-- Georg C. Lichtenberg
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