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
The writer who cannot sometimes throw away a thought about which another man would have written dissertations, without worry whether or not the reader will find it, will never become a great writer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great writers must be willing to discard their thoughts to enhance their work, regardless of how profound others may find those thoughts.
This quote emphasizes the importance of a writer's ability to let go of ideas that may be intriguing or significant but ultimately do not serve the greater purpose of the narrative. It suggests that true greatness in writing comes from prioritizing the reader's experience and the overall quality of the work over individual thoughts that might have been overvalued.
Themes
WritingIdeasCreativityGreatnessDiscardExpressions
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, to encourage students to focus on the overall narrative rather than attachments to individual ideas.
More from Georg C. Lichtenberg
All quotes →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.
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
Nobody will laugh long who deals much with opium: its pleasures even are of a grave and solemn complexion.
Thomas De QuinceyRead
I think humility - which I think is a very good value to adopt - is basically an extension of understanding your own ignorance.
Mark MansonRead
Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
Wyatt EarpRead
In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.
George EliotRead
Anyone can battle for pride, power, vanity, greed, or hate, but war should always be approached with an equal measure of wisdom and strength. It's not just enough to know when to fight, but to know when to lay down the sword and negotiate. Not everything in the world is worth fighting for.
Sherrilyn KenyonRead
Wealth is nothing more or less than a tool to do things with. It is like the fuel that runs the furnace or the belt that runs the wheel - only a means to an end.
Henry FordRead