The sure conviction that we could if we wanted to is the reason so many good minds are idle. Georg C. Lichtenberg More Quotes by Georg C. Lichtenberg More Quotes From Georg C. Lichtenberg Once we know our weaknesses they cease to do us any harm. Georg C. Lichtenberg harm weakness thinking Nothing puts a greater obstacle in the way of the progress of knowledge than thinking that one knows what one does not yet know. Georg C. Lichtenberg progress ignorance thinking The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted. Georg C. Lichtenberg propaganda dangerous truth 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 change motivational inspirational It is we who are the measure of what is strange and miraculous: if we sought a universal measure the strange and miraculous would not occur and all things would be equal. Georg C. Lichtenberg equal strange would-be A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out. Georg C. Lichtenberg mirrors funny book Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age. Georg C. Lichtenberg age birthday needs Ask yourself always: how can this be done better? Georg C. Lichtenberg asks done inspirational 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. Lichtenberg special littles science Nothing makes one old so quickly as the ever-present thought that one is growing older. Georg C. Lichtenberg growing-old growing growing-up There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven. Georg C. Lichtenberg men mean believe There is no more important rule of conduct in the world than this: attach yourself as much as you can to people who are abler than you and yet not so very different that you cannot understand them. Georg C. Lichtenberg different important people If people should ever start to do only what is necessary millions would die of hunger. Georg C. Lichtenberg hunger should people Love is blind, but marriage restores its sight. Georg C. Lichtenberg marriage witty funny The proof that man is the noblest of all creatures is that no other creature has ever denied it. Georg C. Lichtenberg proof creatures men 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 wine food war 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 understanding discovery men I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too. Georg C. Lichtenberg convinced hate love Doubt must be no more than vigilance, otherwise it can become dangerous. Georg C. Lichtenberg vigilance dangerous doubt In the world we live in, one fool makes many fools, but one sage only a few sages. Georg C. Lichtenberg sage fool world
