Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

A good metaphor is something even the police should keep an eye on

The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth

Man loves company even if it is only that of a small burning candle

The grave is still the best shelter against the storms of destiny

If all mankind were suddenly to practice honesty, many thousands of people would be sure to starve

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents

Theologians always try to turn the Bible into a book without common sense

The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing

We say that someone occupies an official position, whereas it is the official position that occupies him

Probably no invention came more easily to man than heaven

To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation

Some people read because they are too lazy to think

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together

The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.

What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment

What is the good of drawing conclusions from experience? I don't deny we sometimes draw the right conclusions, but don't we just as often draw the wrong ones?

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

The worst thing you can possibly do is worrying and thinking about what you could have done

Ambition and suspicion always go together