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The great trick of regarding small departures from the truth as the truth itself - on which is founded the entire integral calculus - is also the basis of our witty speculations, where the whole thing would often collapse if we considered the departures with philosophical rigour.

Georg C. Lichtenberg

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Georg C. Lichtenberg
Age: 56 †
Born: 1742
Born: July 1
Died: 1799
Died: February 24
Astronomer
French Moralist
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Philosopher
Physicist
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A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out.
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Honor is infinitely more valuable than positions of honor.
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It is certainly not a matter of indifference whether I learn something without effort or finally arrive at it myself through my system of thought. In the latter case everything has roots, in the former it is merely superficial.
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It is almost impossible to carry the torch of truth through a crowd without singeing somebody's beard.
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There is something in the character of every man which cannot be broken in--the skeleton of his character and to try to alter this is like training a sheep for draught purposes.
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Man is a masterpiece of creation . . .
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He who understands the wise is wise already.
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The fly that doesn't want to be swatted is most secure when it lights on the fly-swatter.
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One has to do something new in order to see something new.
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To make a vow is a greater sin than to break one.
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Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them.
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Pain warns us not to exert our limbs to the point of breaking them. How much knowledge would we not need to recognize this by the exercise of mere reason.
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A book which, above all others in the world, should be forbidden, is a catalogue of forbidden books.
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To grow wiser means to learn to know better and better the faults to which this instrument with which we feel and judge can be subject.
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Just as we outgrow a pair of trousers, we outgrow acquaintances, libraries, principles, etc., at times before they're worn out and times - and this is the worst of all - before we have new ones.
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Never undertake anything unless you have the heart to ask Heaven's blessing on your undertaking.
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Never trust a man who lays his hand on his heart when he assures you of anything.
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It is in the gift for employing all the vicissitudes of life to one's own advantage and to that of one's craft that a large part of genius consists.
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With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.
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If it is permissible to write plays that are not intended to be seen, I should like to see who can prevent me from writing a book no one can read.
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