What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back from others.

Quote by Georg C Lichtenberg

Topics: Georg C Lichtenberg Quotes

Men still have to be governed by deception.

Men still have to be governed by deception.

The pleasures of the imagination are as it were only drawings and models which are...

The pleasures of the imagination are as it were only drawings and models which are...

Here take back the stuff that I am, nature, knead it back into the dough...

Here take back the stuff that I am, nature, knead it back into the dough...

There are people who possess not so much genius as a certain talent for perceiving...

There are people who possess not so much genius as a certain talent for perceiving...

If the little bit you have is nothing special in itself, at least find a...

If the little bit you have is nothing special in itself, at least find a...

The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted.

The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted.

A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly...

A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly...

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

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

With prophecies the commentator is often a more important man than the prophet.

With prophecies the commentator is often a more important man than the prophet.

To grow wiser means to learn to know better and better the faults to which...

To grow wiser means to learn to know better and better the faults to which...

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

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

I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say...

I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say...

We say that someone occupies an official position, whereas it is the official position that...

We say that someone occupies an official position, whereas it is the official position that...

One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over...

One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over...

We cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, and especially the ordering of...

We cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, and especially the ordering of...

He who says he hates every kind of flattery, and says it in earnest, certainly...

He who says he hates every kind of flattery, and says it in earnest, certainly...

Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if...

Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if...

We are obliged to regard many of our original minds as crazy at least until...

We are obliged to regard many of our original minds as crazy at least until...

With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed...

With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed...

One must judge men not by their opinions, but by what their opinions have made...

One must judge men not by their opinions, but by what their opinions have made...