Georg C. Lichtenberg Quotes

That man is the noblest creature may also be inferred from the fact that no other creature has yet contested this claim.

Man, of all the animals, is probably the only one to regard himself as a great delicacy.

Sam: “I—it’s—I’m not an animal.

I think there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance.

I have a little bit of a big head.

I don't choose to be humble.

The guys who play at a high level probably think they are better than they are, and that's all right.

I like to think of Christopher Daniels as one of those who's a great professional wrestler, but I like to think of myself as one of those people that's great at everything.

My motto is, 'You may not be as good as you think you are, but thinking you are is good.'

Too great a sense of identity makes a man feel he can do no wrong. And too little does the same.

If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.

He who denies his own vanity usually possesses it in so brutal a form that he instinctively shuts his eyes to avoid the necessity of despising himself.

Well, the problem is, it's not easy for me to think of ways to improve myself, because I'm pretty much one of the best people I know.

Once we ask why it should be that all human beings - including infants, the intellectually disabled, criminal psychopaths, Hitler, Stalin, and the rest - have some kind of dignity or worth that no elephant, pig, or chimpanzee can ever achieve, we see that this question is as difficult to answer as our original request for some relevant fact that justifies the inequality of humans and other animals.

There has never been a poet or orator who thought another better than himself.

Man, made after God's image, was a nobler creation than twinkling sparks in the sky, or than the larger and more useful lamp of the moon.

It's obviously a characteristic of human beings that we like to feel superior to others, but our problem is we are not superior

I feel like I'm the best actor on the planet and I also feel like I'm a fraud. I think hubris comes from insecurity. Confidence comes in a more rooted sense; part of being confident is being able to say, "I can be really shitty," and to accept that. But also not to crumble under it.

If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been a proof that you were not.

Man,--the aristocrat amongst the animals.

I don't feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens.

I ask people what piece they are on the chessboard. And some people say 'I'm the king' or 'I'm the knight.' And then they ask me what piece I am, and I say, 'I'm no piece. I take the position of God.'

There is this paradox in pride - it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.

I was always the best athlete, people don't know that. But I was successful at everything I ever did and then I run for president, first time - first time, not three times, not six times. I ran for President first time and lo and behold, I win. And then people say oh, is he a smart person? I'm smarter than all of them put together, but they can't admit it. They had a bad year.

Man is not meant to be humble, he’s meant to be humbled.