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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Genius lies in utilizing life's changes and challenges for personal and professional growth.
This quote by Georg C. Lichtenberg suggests that true genius is not simply about talent but rather the ability to adapt and leverage life's ups and downs for one's benefit and improvement in their craft. It emphasizes the importance of resilience and creativity in facing life's vicissitudes, highlighting that such adaptability is a significant component of genius.
Themes
GeniusAdaptabilityLife ChangesCraftResilienceOpportunity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about overcoming challenges, one might say, 'As Georg C. Lichtenberg said, true genius is found in how we adapt to life's vicissitudes.'
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
Don't be too hard on me. Everyone has to sacrifice at the altar of stupidity from time to time.
Albert EinsteinRead
Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Sometimes the ideas that mean the most to you will feel true long before you can quite formulate them or justify them.
Robert PinskyRead
Great ideas travel slowly, and for a time noiselessly, as the gods whose feet were shod with wool.
James A. GarfieldRead
From here on out, there's just reality. I think that's what maturity is: a stoic response to endless reality. But then, what do I know?
Carrie FisherRead
The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.
William HazlittRead