Today 532 years ago

  The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a nasty discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Today 531 years ago

 The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a nasty discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Today 530 years ago

The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a fatal discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Today 529 years ago

The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a fatal discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

If stupidity is joined by power

"Der Ignorant missachtet die Belehrung.
Und wenn zur Dummheit sich noch Macht gesellt,
scheut er kein Mittel der Zerstörung."

The Ignorant disregards the instruction.
And if his stupidity is even joined by power
he does not shy away from any means of destruction.

Ivan Krylov (13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844)

Today 528 years ago

The first American who discovered Columbus

made a terrible discovery.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799)

A blissful repose of nothingness

We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.

Wir können unser Leben als nutzlos störende Episode in der seligen Ruhe des Nichts betrachten.

Arthur Schopenhauer (22 Februar 1788 – 21 September 1860)

One can't repeat it . . .

. . . often enough: 

The American who was the first to discover Columbus,made a fatal discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Hurra, I am rich!

Nenne dich nicht arm, weil deine Träume nicht in Erfüllung gegangen sind!

Wirklich arm ist nur, wer nie geträumt hat.

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Don't call yourself poor, 'cause your dreams did not come true.

Really poor is only who never dreamed.

I've been reading a lot

Much reading has brought upon us a learned barbarism.
Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

Phew! And nowadays?

Nowadays three witty turns of phrase and a lie
make a writer.
Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

Heaven - that was easy!

Of all the inventions of man I doubt
whether any was more easily accomplished
than that of a Heaven.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

One for both the naive and the liar

There are people who believe
everything is sane and sensible
that is done with a solemn face.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

Not necessarily, hm?

When a book and a head collide and a hollow sound is heard, must it always have come from the book?
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

The Secret of Kiltish Powers

The "second sight" possessed by the Highlanders in Scotland is actually a foreknowledge of future events. I believe they possess this gift because they don't wear trousers.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

Perhaps, perhaps

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 Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

Rational free spirits ...

... are the light brigade who go on ahead and reconnoitre the ground which the heavy brigade of the orthodox will eventually occupy.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

C'est ça!

:)

"When vanity is not prompting us, we have little to say."
La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)

Well, so to speak

Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

Yes!

As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in a single word.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)