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
Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding complex ideas can lead to a belief in their truth, regardless of their obscurity.
Georg C. Lichtenberg suggests that when people grasp complicated and abstract concepts, they often become enamored with the understanding itself, which can lead them to uncritically accept the ideas as true. This highlights the potential for cognitive bias where enthusiasm for comprehension may overshadow critical analysis of the actual validity of the concepts presented.
Themes
UnderstandingBeliefTruthKnowledgeCognition
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on philosophy, one might quote this to illustrate how people can misinterpret complex theories.
More from Georg C. Lichtenberg
All quotes βMany 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.
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
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.
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
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?
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
Similar quotes
The technique of positive thinking is not a technique that transforms you. It is simply repressing the negative aspects of your personality. It is a method of choice. It cannot help awareness; it goes against awareness. Awareness is always choiceless.
RajneeshRead
Whatever the job you are asked to do at whatever level, do a good job because your reputation is your resume.
Madeleine AlbrightRead
We all agree that forgiveness is a beautiful idea until we have to practice it.
C. S. LewisRead
Not knowing it was hard; knowing it was harder
Toni MorrisonRead
We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know.
Robert Green IngersollRead
There is no good in anything until it is finished.
Genghis KhanRead