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 accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our beliefs and opinions are often formed when we lack the maturity to fully understand them.
This quote by Georg C. Lichtenberg suggests that many of our firmly held beliefs and opinions are established during our early years, a time when our capacity for critical thinking and understanding of complex issues is still developing. As a result, these opinions may not be fully informed or reflective of deeper truths, highlighting the importance of continual learning and reassessment of our viewpoints as we gain more experience and knowledge.
Themes
OpinionsUnderstandingWisdomKnowledgeLearning
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about how childhood experiences shape adult beliefs, this quote can serve as a reminder to stay open-minded.
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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