Lichtenberg

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)One of Einstein’s favourite authors, Lichtenberg’s brilliant aphorisms make him one of the most enjoyable and enlightening of all German writers. Lichtenberg visited England in 1774-75; this led to an interest in English art and he later wrote commentaries on the engravings of the British artist William Hogarth.

The letters in brackets below refer to the different volumes (Sudelbücher) containing Lichtenberg’s aphorisms.

Was muß es auf ein Volk für einen Einfluß haben, wenn es keine fremde Sprache lernt? Vermutlich etwas Ähnliches von dem, den eine gänzliche Entfernung von aller Gesellschaft auf einen einzelnen Menschen hat. (E 506)

What effect does it have on a nation if it does not learn any foreign languages? Presumably it would be comparable to the effect of complete isolation from all society on an individual person.

Aufklärung in allen Ständen besteht eigentlich in richtigen Begriffen von unsern wesentlichen Bedürfnissen. (J 231)

Enlightenment in all social classes actually consists in having the correct conceptions of our essential needs.

Die Superklugheit ist eine der verächtlichsten Arten von Unklugheit. (J 233)

Super-cleverness is one of the most contemptible forms of uncleverness.

English Translations

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Aphorisms, trans. by R. J. Hollingdale (London: Penguin, 1990)

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Lichtenberg’s Commentaries on Hogarth’s Engravings, trans. by Innes and Gustav Herdan (London: Cresset, 1966)

Further Reading

Nicholas Boyle, ‘Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’, in German Men of Letters, ed. by Alex Natan and Brian Keith-Smith, vol. 6 (London: Wolff, 1972), pp. 171-206

Ralph W. Buechler, Science, Satire and Wit: The Essays of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (New York: Peter Lang, 1990)

Charlotte M. Craig (ed.), Lichtenberg: Essays Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of his Birth (New York: Peter Lang, 1992)

Leonard Olschner, ‘The Allegoresis of Visual Perception: The London of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’, Publications of the English Goethe Society 72 (2003), 39-52

J. P. Stern, Lichtenberg: a doctrine of scattered occasions, reconstructed from his aphorisms and reflections (London: Thames & Hudson, 1963)