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
Doubt must be no more than vigilance, otherwise it can become dangerous.
Interpretation
Doubt can be helpful when managed properly, but excessive doubt can lead to negative consequences.
This quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance between doubt and vigilance. While a certain level of doubt is healthy and can prompt critical thinking, allowing it to overwhelm us can lead to destructive outcomes. The quote warns against the dangers of unchecked doubt, suggesting that it should be treated with caution and awareness.
In practice
During a motivational speech on overcoming obstacles, one might quote this to caution against destructive self-doubt.
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.
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.
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.
The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.
The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
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?
Wherever smart people work, doors are unlocked.
Accomplish but do not boast, accomplish without show, accomplish without arrogance, accomplish without grabbing, accomplish without forcing.
Words are really powerful. I don't believe that axiom at all - words can absolutely hurt you. Words can wound. They can do a lot of damage. I think they can do way more damage than sticks and stones. I'll take sticks and stones.
Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman.
Hurt feelings or discomfort of any kind cannot be cause by another person. No one outside me can hurt me. That’s not a possibility. It’s only when I believe a stressful thought that I get hurt. And I’m the one who’s hurting me by believing what I think. This is very good news, because it means that I don’t have to get someone else to stop hurting me. I’m the one who can stop hurting me. It’s within my power.
Knowledge kills action; action requires the veils of illusion.
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