Top 15 Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Quotes

Don't judge a man by his opinions, but what his opinions have made of him.

I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is that they must change if they are to get better.

The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.

Nothing is more conductive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all.

The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.

A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out.

There are very many people who read simply to prevent themselves from thinking.

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

The highest level than can be reached by a mediocre but experienced mind is a talent for uncovering the weaknesses of those greater than itself.

To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation.

Man…who lives in three places – in the past, in the present, and in the future – can be unhappy if one of these three is worthless. Religion has even added a fourth – eternity.

When a book and a head collide and a hollow sound is heard, must it always have come from the book?

Whenever he composes a critical review, I have been told, he gets an enormous erection.

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.

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.