More from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

  1. Man is a masterpiece of creation if for no other reason than that, all the weight of evidence for determinism notwithstanding, he believes …
  2. Man is to be found in reason, God in the passions.
  3. 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 refle…
  4. The sure conviction that we could if we wanted to is the reason so many good minds are idle.
  5. It is a question whether, when we break a murderer on the wheel, we do not fall into the error a child makes when it hits the chair it has …
  6. 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 gl…
  7. The most perfect ape cannot draw an ape; only man can do that; but, likewise, only man regards the ability to do this as a sign of superior…
  8. It is almost everywhere the case that soon after it is begotten the greater part of human wisdom is laid to rest in repositories.

All Georg Christoph Lichtenberg quotes