Quotations From G.C. (GEORG CHRISTOPH) LICHTENBERG

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• 1.

  The sure conviction that we could if we wanted to is the reason so many good minds are idle.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aphorism 27, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 2.

  It is almost everywhere the case that soon after it is begotten the greater part of human wisdom is laid to rest in repositories.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aph. 37, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 3.

  Nothing makes one old so quickly as the ever-present thought that one is growing older.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aph. 13, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 4.

  There is no greater impediment to progress in the sciences than the desire to see it take place too quickly.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook K," aph. 72, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 5.

  Man is a masterpiece of creation if for no other reason than that, all the weight of evidence for determinism notwithstanding, he believes he has free will.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook J," aph. 249, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
• 6.

  We cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, and especially the ordering of nature, it is always ourselves alone we are observing.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook J," aph. 65, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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• 7.

  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 bumped into.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-99), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook J," aph. 146, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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• 8.

  Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook J," aph. 77, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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• 9.

  The fly that does not want to be swatted is safest if it sits on the fly-swat.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook J," aph. 70, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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• 10.

  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 superiority.

  G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742-1799), German physicist, philosopher. "Notebook J," aph. 115, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990).
  
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