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
We cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, and especially the ordering of nature, it is always ourselves alone we are observing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Observing nature reflects our own inner selves and thoughts.
This quote highlights the idea that when we look at the natural world, we are not just observing external phenomena but are also reflecting on our own thoughts, feelings, and the essence of our humanity. It suggests a deep connection between ourselves and the environment, indicating that understanding nature can lead to self-discovery and insight into our own existence.
Themes
NatureSelf-ReflectionObservationHumanityEnvironment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about conservation to emphasize the connection between humans and nature.
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.
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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?
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
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I believe we should make use of what we know. We know that the future of the Earth must not be compromised.
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The birds I heard today, which, fortunately, did not come within the scope of my science, sang as freshly as if it had been the first morning of creation.
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Every walk to the woods is a religious rite, every bath in the stream is a saving ordinance. Communion service is at all hours, and the bread and wine are from the heart and marrow of Mother Earth.
John BurroughsRead