“What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back from others.”

—  Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

G 7
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook G (1779-1783)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back fr…" by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg?
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg photo
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 137
German scientist, satirist 1742–1799

Related quotes

Denis Diderot photo

“There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation.”

Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist

No. 15
On the Interpretation of Nature (1753)
Context: There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.

“The best aphorisms are pointed expressions of the results of observation, experience, and reflection. They are portable wisdom, the quintessential extracts of thought and feeling. They furnish the largest amount of intellectual stimulus and nutriment in the smallest compass. About every weak point in human nature, or vicious spot in human life, there is deposited a crystallization of warning and protective proverbs.”

William R. Alger (1822–1905) American clergyman and poet

Source: "The Utility and Futility of Aphorisms," 1863, p. 178.

James Francis Stephens photo

“In his soul, as in a mirror, were concentrated all the lights radiating from every point of observation — whether human or Divine — and from his soul as from a mirror, these lights were reflected back in every possible combination of beauty and sublimity.”

James Francis Stephens (1792–1852) British ornithologist and entomologist

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 115.

James Madison photo

“But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)
1780s, Federalist Papers (1787–1788)
Context: The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of Government. But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

Henry David Thoreau photo

“None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty.”

Henry David Thoreau book Walden ou la vie dans les bois

Walden (1854)

Rumi photo

“Many of the faults you see in others, dear reader,
are your own nature reflected in them.”

Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet

Rumi Daylight (1990)

Zisi photo

“What is God-given is what we call human nature. To fulfil the law of our human nature is what we call the moral law. The cultivation of the moral law is what we call culture.”

Zisi (-481–-402 BC) Chinese philosopher

Opening lines, p. 104
Variant translations:
What is God-given is called nature; to follow nature is called Tao (the Way); to cultivate the Way is called culture.
As translated by Lin Yutang in The Importance of Living (1937), p. 143
What is God-given is called human nature.
To fulfill that nature is called the moral law (Tao).
The cultivation of the moral law is called culture.
As translated by Lin Yutang in From Pagan to Christian (1959), p. 85
The Doctrine of the Mean

Miyamoto Musashi photo

“What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in man's knowledge.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Book No-Thing-ness
Context: What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in man's knowledge. Of course the void is nothingness. By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void.

Joseph Joubert photo

“What you call weakness comes from the strength of friendship.”

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist and essayist
Edward Gibbon photo

“Amiable weaknesses of human nature.”

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament

Vol. 1, Chap. 14. Compare: "Amiable weakness", Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Book x, Chapter viii.
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire: Volume 1 (1776)

Related topics