The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
Cautiousness in judgment is nowadays to be recommended to each and every one: if we gained only one incontestable truth every ten years from each of our philosophical writers the harvest we reaped would be sufficient.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being careful and thoughtful in our judgments is important, as valuable insights come slowly over time.
Georg C. Lichtenberg emphasizes the importance of caution in forming judgments, suggesting that if we could acquire just one undeniable truth from philosophical writings every decade, the knowledge we gather would be more than enough. This highlights the slow and often painstaking process of gaining wisdom, reminding us that thoughtful contemplation is crucial in a world filled with varying opinions and uncertainties.
Themes
JudgmentWisdomPhilosophyTruthCaution
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of critical thinking in philosophy classes.
More from Georg C. Lichtenberg
All quotes →Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if we did not have the idea of nobility in our heads.
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Astronomy is perhaps the science whose discoveries owe least to chance, in which human understanding appears in its whole magnitude, and through which man can best learn how small he is.
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The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.
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The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
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Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely. Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war?
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