People nowadays have such high hopes of America and the political conditions obtaining there that one might say the desires, at least the secret desires, of all enlightened Europeans are deflected to the west, like our magnetic needles. Georg C. Lichtenberg More Quotes by Georg C. Lichtenberg More Quotes From Georg C. Lichtenberg If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way. Georg C. Lichtenberg complaining food world He was then in his fifty-fourth year, when even in the case of poets reason and passion begin to discuss a peace treaty and usually conclude it not very long afterwards. Georg C. Lichtenberg passion time peace I forget most of what I read, just as I do most of what I have eaten, but I know that both contribute no less to the conservation of my mind and my body on that account. Georg C. Lichtenberg body mind forget Honest unaffected distrust of human abilities under all circumstances is the surest sign of strength of mind. Georg C. Lichtenberg distrust honest mind You believe I run after the strange because I do not know the beautiful; no, it is because you do not know the beautiful that I seek the strange. Georg C. Lichtenberg running beautiful believe Whenever he composes a critical review, I have been told, he gets an enormous erection. Georg C. Lichtenberg reviews enormous critical One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything. Georg C. Lichtenberg success motivational inspirational Some people come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede -- not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above 14. Georg C. Lichtenberg names feet inspirational The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing. Georg C. Lichtenberg inmates wall might When a book and a head collide and a hollow sound is heard, must it always have come from the book? Georg C. Lichtenberg sound writing book Ambition and suspicion always go together. Georg C. Lichtenberg suspicion ambition together What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment. Georg C. Lichtenberg true-freedom employment freedom The more experiences and experiments accumulate in the exploration of nature, the more precarious the theories become. But it is not always good to discard them immediately on this account. For every hypothesis which once was sound was useful for thinking of previous phenomena in the proper interrelations and for keeping them in context. We ought to set down contradictory experiences separately, until enough have accumulated to make building a new structure worthwhile. Georg C. Lichtenberg nature science thinking The most heated defenders of a science, who cannot endure the slightest sneer at it, are commonly those who have not made very much progress in it and are secretly aware of this defect. Georg C. Lichtenberg progress secret science The most successful tempters and thus the most dangerous are the deluded deluders. Georg C. Lichtenberg dangerous successful temptation The greatest events occur without intention playing any part in them; chance makes good mistakes and undoes the most carefully planned undertaking. The world's greatest events are not produced, they happen. Georg C. Lichtenberg events mistake world Some theories are good for nothing except to be argued about. Georg C. Lichtenberg theory It is too bad if you have to do everything upon reflection and can't do anything from early habit. Georg C. Lichtenberg habit ifs reflection Ideas too are a life and a world. Georg C. Lichtenberg world ideas What is the good of drawing conclusions from experience? I don't deny we sometimes draw the right conclusions, but don't we just as often draw the wrong ones? Georg C. Lichtenberg deny drawing sometimes
