Georg C. Lichtenberg Quotes

To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.

Doubt is the origin of wisdom.

We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.

When intelligent people pride themselves on not understanding, it is quite natural they should succeed better than fools.

No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete.

I was a philosophy major as an undergraduate, and I'm just an arrogant little thing. It's hard for me to admit that I can't understand something, let alone not be in charge of it.

Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.

In philosophy you're never 100% sure. You're always undermining what you think you know. That's always been my philosophy and my intellectual ethos.

A man remains ignorant because he loves ignorance, and chooses ignorant thoughts; a man becomes wise because he loves wisdom and chooses wise thoughts.

No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.

I'm very judgmental person. It's one of my faults.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything. The novelist teaches the reader to comprehend the world as a question. There is wisdom and tolerance in that attitude. In a world built on sacrosanct certainties the novel is dead.

The more you look into and understand yourself, the less judgmental you become towards others.

I'm not wise, but the beginning of wisdom is there; it's like relaxing into - and an acceptance of - things.

To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

The learned man knows that he is ignorant.

The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.

Learning lessons is a little like reaching maturity. You're not suddenly more happy, wealthy, or powerful, but you understand the world around you better, and you're at peace with yourself. Learning life's lessons is not about making your life perfect, but about seeing life as it was meant to be.

Doubt grows with knowledge.

I'll never be immune to criticism, and that's okay, and I'm very comfortable with that.

Compromise and tolerance are magic words. It took me 40 years to become philosophical.

I feel the older I get, the more I'm learning to handle life. Being on this quest for a long time, it's all about finding yourself.

The secret of success is to be in harmony with existence, to be always calm to let each wave of life wash us a little farther up the shore.

But I'm not an idiot. At the end of the day, I've learned a lot.