Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Quotes

Con demasiada frecuencia la “noble sencillez” en las obras de la naturaleza tiene su origen en la noble ignorancia de quien las contempla.

I would give something to know for precisely whom the deeds were really done, of which it is publicly stated they were done 'for the Fatherland'.

Sickness is mankind's greatest defect.

Imaginas que yo persigo lo extraño por ignorancia de lo bello, pero no es así, ocurre que porque tu ignoras lo bello, yo busco lo extraño.

We often have need of a profound philosophy to restore to our feelings their original state of innocence, to find our way out of the rubble of things alien to us, to begin to feel for ourselves and to speak ourselves, and I might almost say to exist ourselves. Even if my philosophy does not extend to discovering anything new, it does nevertheless possess the courage to regard as questionable what has long been thought true.

Diogenes, filthily attired, paced across the splendid carpets in Plato's dwelling. Thus, said he, do I trample on the pride of Plato. Yes, Plato replied, but only with another kind of pride.

Има хора, които си въобразяват, че всичко, което се прави със сериозен вид, е разумно.

Much reading has brought upon us a learned barbarism

If this is philosophy it is at any rate a philosophy that is not in its right mind.

Many are less fortunate than you’ may not be a roof to live under, but it will serve to retire beneath in the event of a shower.

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

Conocer objetos externos es una contradicción. El hombre no puede salir de sí mismo. Cuando pensamos que vemos objetos sólo nos vemos a nosotros. En realidad no podemos conocer otra cosa en el mundo que lo que somos y los cambios que nos ocurren. Del mismo modo, nos es imposible sentir “por otros”, como se suele decir. Sólo sentimos por nosotros mismos. La frase suena dura, pero no lo es si se entiende correctamente. No se ama ni al padre, ni a la madre, ni a la mujer, ni a los hijos, sino las sensaciones agradables que ellos nos producen: halagan nuestro orgullo y nuestro amor propio. No puede ser de otro modo, y si alguien lo niega es que no lo entiende.

It is hardly to be believed how spiritual reflections when mixed with a little physics can hold people's attention and give them a livelier idea of God than do the often ill-applied examples of his wrath.

There are people who possess not so much genius as a certain talent for perceiving the desires of the century, or even of the decade, before it has done so itself.

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.