The course of the seasons is a piece of clockwork, with a cuckoo to call when it is spring. Georg C. Lichtenberg More Quotes by Georg C. Lichtenberg More Quotes From Georg C. Lichtenberg A vacuum of ideas affects people differently than a vacuum of air, otherwise readers of books would be constantly collapsing. Georg C. Lichtenberg readingairbook Do we write books so that they shall merely be read? Don't we also write them for employment in the household? For one that is read from start to finish, thousands are leafed through, other thousands lie motionless, others are jammed against mouseholes, thrown at rats, others are stood on, sat on, drummed on, have gingerbread baked on them or are used to light pipes. Georg C. Lichtenberg readingbooklying The wisdom of providence is as much revealed in the rarity of genius, as in the circumstance that not everyone is deaf or blind. Georg C. Lichtenberg deafgeniusblind Perseverance can lend the appearance of dignity and grandeur to many actions, just as silence in company affords wisdom and apparent intelligence to a stupid person. Georg C. Lichtenberg perseverancesilencestupid I have never yet met anyone who did not think it was an agreeable sensation to cut tinfoil with scissors. Georg C. Lichtenberg pleasurecuttingthinking Nowadays beautiful women are counted among the talents of their husbands. Georg C. Lichtenberg husbandbeautifulmen Nothing reveals a man's character better than the kind of joke at which he takes offense. Georg C. Lichtenberg humorcharactermen Perhaps pure reason without heart would never have thought of God. Georg C. Lichtenberg purereasonheart Everyone is perfectly willing to learn from unpleasant experience - if only the damage of the first lesson could be repaired. Georg C. Lichtenberg damagelessonsfirsts Great men too make mistakes, and many among them do it so often that one is almost tempted to call them little men. Georg C. Lichtenberg greatnessmistakemen After all, is our idea of God anything more than personified incomprehensibility? Georg C. Lichtenberg godideas To read means to borrow; to create out of one s readings is paying off one's debts. Georg C. Lichtenberg readingmeanbook You can make a good living from soothsaying but not from truthsaying. Georg C. Lichtenberg good-livingastrology The celebrated painter Gainsborough got as much pleasure from seeing violins as from hearing them. Georg C. Lichtenberg violinhearingart There were honest people long before there were Christians and there are, God be praised, still honest people where there are no Christians. It could therefore easily be possible that people are Christians because true Christianity corresponds to what they would have been even if Christianity did not exist. Georg C. Lichtenberg christianlongpeople A writer who wishes to be read by posterity must not be averse to putting hints which might give rise to whole books, or ideas for learned discussions, in some corner of a chapter so that one should think he can afford to throw them away by the thousand. Georg C. Lichtenberg bookideasthinking Do not say hypothesis, and even less theory: say way of thinking. Georg C. Lichtenberg sciencewaythinking The great trick of regarding small departures from the truth as the truth itself - on which is founded the entire integral calculus - is also the basis of our witty speculations, where the whole thing would often collapse if we considered the departures with philosophical rigour. Georg C. Lichtenberg philosophicaltruthwitty The greater part of human misery is caused by indolence. Georg C. Lichtenberg indolencemiseryhumans Actual aristocracy cannot be abolished by any law: all the law can do is decree how it is to be imparted and who is to acquire it. Georg C. Lichtenberg aristocracydecreelaw
