Quotations From G.C. (GEORG CHRISTOPH) LICHTENBERG

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• 51.

  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.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook L," aphorism 44, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 52.

  He was always smoothing and polishing himself, and in the end he became blunt before he was sharp.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook L," aph. 70, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 53.

  Virtue by premeditation isn't worth much.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook H," aph. 13, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 54.

  Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook F," aph. 87, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 55.

  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 reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook J," aph. 157, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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• 56.

  To receive applause for works which do not demand all our powers hinders our advance towards a perfecting of our spirit. It usually means that thereafter we stand still.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aphorism 42, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 57.

  One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook A," aph. 10, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 58.

  It is in the gift for employing all the vicissitudes of life to one's own advantage and to that of one's craft that a large part of genius consists.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aphorism 48, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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• 59.

  Before we blame we should first see whether we cannot excuse.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aph. 39, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 60.

  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.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aph. 68, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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