A good part of the fame of most celebrated men is due to the shortsightedness of their admirers
Georg C. LichtenbergThere can hardly be a stranger commodity in the world than books. Printed by people who don't understand them; sold by people who don't understand them; bound, criticized and read by people who don't understand them; and now even written by people who don't understand them.
Georg C. LichtenbergA book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out.
Georg C. LichtenbergIf nature be regarded as the teacher and we poor human beings as her pupils, the human race presents a very curious picture. We all sit together at a lecture and possess the necessary principles for understanding it, yet we always pay more attention to the chatter of our fellow students than to the lecturer's discourse. Or, if our neighbor copies something down, we sneak it from him, stealing what he himself may have heard imperfectly, and add it to our own errors of spelling and opinion.
Georg C. Lichtenberg