A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out. We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is wise already.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A book reflects the reader's nature rather than transforming it. Wisdom cannot be communicated to those unwilling or unable to understand it.
- In plain terms
- Books show you who you are, not who you could be.
- What can you take from it?
- Readers extract meaning based on their own capacity.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What do your book choices say about you?
- Can ignorance be cured by reading?
Another view
Some texts can challenge and change a reader's perspective over time.
More from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Be wary of passing the judgment: obscure. To find something obscure poses no difficulty: elephants and poodles find many things obscure.
Permalink to quote #39 As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in …
Permalink to quote #41 Courage, garrulousness and the mob are on our side. What more do we want?
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