Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, (1742-1799) satirist, literary, and art critic
Most people live more by fashion than by reason.
I'm afraid that our overly careful upbringing will create for us a tribe of dwarfs.
The future must be embedded in the present. This is called a plan. Without it, nothing in the world can be good.
The rapid accumulation of knowledge acquired with too little independent participation is not very fruitful. Learning can also produce only leaves without producing fruit.
To be human means not only to have knowledge, but also to do for future generations what those who came before did for us.
The greatest happiness for which I daily ask heaven: let only intelligent and virtuous people surpass me in strength and knowledge.
Seeing yourself in others, you not only love yourself, but also hate yourself.
Every person has something of all people.
A man in love with himself in his love has at least the advantage that he will never have many rivals.
In many of the works of a famous writer I would rather read what he crossed out than what he left in.
Education is of a special kind.
The impression of ten sayings affecting the mind is easier to erase than the impression of one that affects the heart.
In prophecy, the interpreter is often more important than the prophet himself.
The universal source of our unhappiness is that we believe that things really are what we think they are.
There is something in every person's character that cannot be broken: this is the backbone of character.
The main calling of a writer is to bring the truth to people, to teach and educate them.
Pride - a noble passion - is not blind to its own shortcomings. This is what distinguishes arrogance.
Not even the devil himself could wish for more suitable people than some of the so-called “God-pleasing” ones.
The motto is: striving to find the truth is a merit, even if you wander along this path.
A girl who opens her soul and body to her friend reveals the mysteries of the entire female gender.
To make noise, they choose little people - drummers.
The only thing that was courageous in him, he could not discover because of decency.
If some Linnaeus had ever ranked animals according to their happiness, contentment with their position, then, apparently, some people would have been behind donkeys and hunting dogs.
There are people who will not begin to hear until their ears are cut off.
There are people who believe that everything done with a serious face is reasonable.
There are people who are born with an attraction to evil.
There are a lot of people who read just to avoid thinking.
Living against your will is disgusting; but it would be even more terrible to become immortal if you don’t want it.
The golden rule: judge a person not by his opinions, but by what those opinions make of him.
Excusing shortcomings speaks in favor of the praiser.
Study everything not out of vanity, but for practical benefit.
Learning to imagine clearly enough that no one is completely happy is perhaps the closest path to complete happiness.
Our weaknesses no longer harm us when we know them.
Not every original writes original, and not all originals are written by originals.
Some scientists accumulate knowledge only to boast about it.
…Doesn’t the spirit of contradiction ultimately bring more benefit than the spirit of unity?
You should not trust a person who, when asserting something, puts his hand on his heart.
Are we not making the mistake of a child who hits the chair he bumps into when driving around a murderer?
Do not create for yourself too sophisticated an idea about a person, judge him simply; do not consider him too good or too bad.
An undoubted sign of any good book is that you like it the more as you get older.
Is it not surprising that people so often fight for religion and are so reluctant to live by its precepts?
I always encountered indomitable ambition and distrust together.
Do not deviate from your goal for a single day - this is a means to prolong time, and, moreover, a very sure means, although it is not easy to use.
No invention has come so easily to man as the invention of heavenly life.
Nothing ages a person faster than the constant thought that he is getting old.
Nothing helps peace of mind, How complete absence own opinion.
Generally accepted opinions about what everyone considers a long-decided matter are most often worthy of investigation.
One thing is certain: the Christian religion is defended rather by people who feed on it than by those who are convinced of its truth.
Beware of taking, by chance, a post that is beyond your capacity, lest you appear to be something you are not.
Witticisms and quirks should be used with the same caution as all things that can rust.
People should be required to provide services according to their capabilities, and not according to our wishes.
About what a person should be, even the best people they know almost nothing reliable; You can learn something about what he is from the example of each.
It is very sad that people's desire to reduce evil gives rise to so many new evils.
Overthinking is one of the most shameful types of stupidity.
It constantly turns out that the so-called “bad people” benefit from a more thorough study of them, while the “good” ones lose from this.
You find instruction in life more often than consolation.
Before you condemn, you should always think whether an excuse can be found.
In the absence of other means, a person's character can never be understood more accurately than by the joke to which he is offended.
Train your mind to doubt and your heart to tolerance.
The reason people remember so little of what they read is that they think too little for themselves.
Trying to do everything at once means doing nothing.
A slavish act is not always the act of a slave.
Is what a person can know really what he should know?
The equality we demand is only the most tolerable degree of inequality.
Reviewers have the right not only to tell people to their faces that they are fools, but even to prove it to them.
The most interesting surface on earth for us is the human face.
The most dangerous lies are truths that are slightly twisted.
The healthiest and most beautiful, well-proportioned people are those who are not irritated by anything.
A modest person is more intolerable to me than a braggart. A braggart recognizes everyone's dignity, but an overly modest person, apparently, despises the one in front of whom he is being modest.
Hiding your shortcomings will not make you better; our authority gains from the sincerity with which we acknowledge them.
One should strive to see in every thing something that no one has ever seen and what no one has yet thought about.
The word "difficulty" should not exist at all for a creative mind.
The situation with wit is like with music: the more you listen to it, the more subtle harmonies you desire.
Sympathy is an unimportant charity.
Try not to be below your era.
There are mediocre dreamers, and then they are truly dangerous people.
What actually makes heavenly life so attractive for the poor is the thought of equality of classes in the next world.
For spiritual sheep in a community, like worldly sheep in a pasture, the main thing is wool.
For many people, writing poetry is a growing pain of the mind.
A person's intelligence can be determined by the care with which he considers the future or outcome of a matter.
Teaching reason and being reasonable are completely different things.
A person loves company, even if it is the company of a lonely burning candle.
An honest person and a fraudster simply confuse the concepts of “mine” and “yours.” One considers the first as the second, and the other considers the second as the first.
Self-love has at least the advantage that it has few rivals.
A metaphor is much smarter than its creator, and many things are.
Some people have the ability to appear stupid before they show intelligence. This gift is especially common among girls.
The inability to learn in old age is explained (and undoubtedly) by a reluctance to no longer obey.
There is, perhaps, not a single person in the world who, if given the opportunity to become a swindler for a thousand thalers, would not prefer to remain an honest person for half that amount.
Do you really think that God is Catholic?
New through old cracks.
New discoveries in philosophy are almost entirely discoveries of new errors.
It is well known that a quarter of an hour is more than a quarter of an hour.
One of the great benefits of marriage is that you can refer friends to your wife.
He not only did not believe in ghosts, but was not even afraid of them.
They felt government pressure as little as air pressure.
A guy who once stole 100,000 thalers can live his life honestly in the future.
Written requests are easier to refuse, and written orders are easier to give than verbal ones.
Such people do not defend Christianity, but are defended by Christianity.
Popular presentation today is too often called one that allows the masses to talk about something without understanding anything about it.
It's incredible how much damage rules can do once you make things too strict.
Carved images of saints have accomplished more works in the world than the saints themselves during their lifetime.
Modesty should be the virtue of those who have no others.
There is a big difference between continuing to believe in something and believing the same thing again. To continue to believe that the moon influences plants is stupidity and superstition, but to believe it again shows philosophical reflection.
In a woman, the location of the sense of honor coincides with the center of gravity of her body; it is located slightly higher, in the chest, near the diaphragm. That’s why men puff out their chests when they accomplish “great” things and feel lethargic and empty.
when doing small things.
One has incorrect spelling, another has correct incorrect spelling.
Often some people become scientists, just as others become soldiers, only because they are no longer fit for any work.
What? Understand the matter you are arguing about? I argue, on the contrary, that for a dispute it is necessary that at least one of the parties understand nothing about this matter, and in the so-called lively dispute, at the moment of its highest manifestation, both parties should understand nothing about it and even know nothing about it, what they're saying.
To see something new, you need to do something new.
This book must first be threshed.
I thank God a thousand times for making me an atheist.
I have always found that the less a scientist can prove his own greatness in his works of natural science, the more inclined is he to constantly prove the greatness of God.
Parents who notice that their son wants to become a poet should flog him until he either gives up poetry or becomes a great poet.
Where previously there were the boundaries of science, there is now its center.
The great of this world are often reproached for not doing all the good that they could have done. They might say, “Think of all the harm we could do.”
The fact that many are looking for the truth and do not find it is probably explained by the fact that the paths to the truth, like the roads in the Nogai steppe leading from one place to another, are just as wide and long.
True, we no longer burn witches, but we burn every letter that contains the complete truth.
You shouldn't go to bed before you tell yourself that you learned something during the day. What I mean by “learned” is the desire to push the boundaries of our scientific and any other useful knowledge.
I know the face of ostentatious attention: this is the deepest degree of absent-mindedness.
Experts in science are never proud; on the contrary, only those who, not having the ability to develop science themselves, become inflated with pride, are engaged in its popularization dark history or are more than willing to tell everything that others have done.
They also make mistakes, and some of them so often that you are almost tempted to consider them insignificant people.
Very important has, as something is said; I think that the most ordinary things can be said in such a way that many will think: perhaps the devil himself suggested them to the speaker.
“Good tone” is an octave lower.
Beautiful birds sing worse than others. The same applies to people. You shouldn’t look for a deep thought in an elaborate style.
There were only two people in the world whom he dearly loved: the first was his greatest flatterer, the second was himself.
When a book collides with your head and a dull, empty sound is heard, is it always the book's fault?
He constantly made extracts, and everything he read passed from one book to another, bypassing his head.
He wrote eight volumes. It would certainly be better if he planted eight trees or gave birth to eight children.
Listeners often consider themselves convinced when they are first spoken to.
There is a state... when the presence and absence of a loved one are equally difficult to bear; in any case, in his presence you do not experience the pleasure that you would expect if you suffered from his absence.
The ordinary man always adapts to the prevailing opinion and the prevailing fashion, he believes current state things are the only possible and treats everything passively.
Force smart people Believing that you are not who you really are is in many cases more difficult than actually becoming who you want to appear to be.
Finding small faults has long been a characteristic of minds that have risen little or not at all above mediocrity. Sublime minds are silent or object to the whole, but great minds create themselves, without judging anyone.
After the heart recognized God, that is, fear, the mind began to search for Him, just as the burghers search for ghosts.
Any non-partisanship is artificial. A person is always partisan and deeply right in this. Non-partisanship itself is partisan.
The public, when it praises us, is always considered a competent judge. But as soon as she condemns us, they recognize us as incapable of speaking about the works of the mind.
It is an old rule that a person can appear modest when he wants to; but a modest person cannot appear shameless.
The best way to praise the living and the dead is to excuse their weaknesses; but just don’t attribute to them virtues that they did not possess, this spoils everything and even makes the true suspicious.
Don’t let undeserved reproach upset you too much; but sometimes they praise you for nothing.
A sharp mind is a magnifying glass; wit is a diminutive.
Lichtenberg Georg Christoph- (Lichtenberg) (1742 1799), German satirist writer, literary, theater and art critic of the Enlightenment, scientific physicist, foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1794). Professor of physics at the University of Göttingen (since 1769).... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Lichtenberg Georg Christoph- Lichtenberg Georg Christoph (1.7.1742, Oberramstadt, ≈ 24.2.1799, Göttingen), German writer, publicist and scientist. He graduated from the University of Gögtingen, where he was a professor of physics from 1769. Investigated the spark discharge at the border... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Lichtenberg Georg Christoph- (Lichtenberg, 1742 1799) outstanding German scientist and publicist; genus. in 1742 near Darmstadt in the family of a village pastor. As a child he developed a hump, which stunted his growth and left him permanently sick. There was prof. physics and... ...
Lichtenberg Georg-Christoph- (Lichtenberg, 1742 99) outstanding German. scientist and publicist, b. in 1742 near Darmstadt in the family of a village pastor. As a child he developed a hump, which stunted his growth and left him permanently sick. There was prof. physics and astronomy... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
Lichtenberg Georg- (Lichtenberg) Lichtenberg Georg Christoph (Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph) (1742 1799) German physicist, publicist, satirist, literary, theater and art critic. Born July 1, 1742, Oberramstadt. Graduated from the University of Gegtingen...
Lichtenberg, Georg- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (German Lichtenberg, 1742 1799) an outstanding German scientist and publicist; genus. in 1742 near Darmstadt in the family of a village pastor. Contents 1 Biography and activities ... Wikipedia
LICHTENBERG Georg Christoph- (1742 99) German satirist writer, literary, theater and art critic of the Enlightenment, scientific physicist, foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1794). Professor of physics at the University of Göttingen (since 1769). Master socially... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg- (1742 1799) satirist writer, literary, theater and art critic Most people live more by fashion than by reason. I'm afraid that our overly careful upbringing will create for us a tribe of dwarfs. The future should be... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (German Lichtenberg, 1742-1799) - an outstanding German scientist and publicist; genus. in 1742 near Darmstadt in the family of a village pastor.
As a child he developed a hump, which stunted his growth and left him permanently sick. There was prof. physics and astronomy in Göttingen and a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. As a scientist, Lichtenberg became famous for his lectures on experimental physics, which he explained with experiments using his own improved apparatus, and for the discovery of electrical figures named after him (Lichtenberg). It was the famous “hunchback” who introduced the designation different types electricity signs "+" and "-" positive and negative voltage. This is the historical significance of Lichtenberg as a physicist. Before him, electricity had a different designation as “glass” and “guta-percha”; most of all, there was confusion; different physicists called it differently “amber”, “wool”, etc.
How much better off some people would be if they cared as little about other people's affairs as they care about their own.
Lichtenberg Georg Christoph
As a critic and publicist, he approaches Lessing in breadth philosophical views and independence and subtlety of critical judgment. His magnificent "Explanations of Gogarth", his polemical articles and notes, in which he scourges with deadly irony sentimental fantasy and all kinds of mysticism and charlatanism of the era of "Sturm und Drang", as well as a number of small articles, witty and playful, force one to recognize Lichtenberg a first-class humorist and satirist, the German Swift. Lichtenberg's best satirical articles: "Timorus" and "Fragment von Schwänzen" - parodies of Lavater's dithyrambic and hyperbolic style; “On physiognomy against physiognomists” is an article directed against “Physiognomy” by the same Lavater.
I spoil it literary language and Lichtenberg often made fun of the works of imaginary “geniuses,” for example. in “Vorschlag zu einem Orbis pictus”, in “The Most Merciful Message of the Earth to the Moon”, in “Consolation for the unfortunate who are not original geniuses” and so on. From England, where he traveled twice, Lichtenberg wrote a number of interesting letters (to G.-Chr. Boyer). No less interesting and attractive is his own characterization, made by him shortly before his death. In the "Detailed Explanatory Text to the Engravings of Gogarth" (1791-1799), Lichtenberg's humor rose to a height worthy of Gogarth.
"L.`s Vermischte Schriften" was published in Göttingen in 1800-1805; a more complete collection of works together with "Ausführliche Erklärungen der Hogarthschen Kupferstiche" was published by the sons of L. (ib., 1844-1853)
Most people live by fashion, not by reason.
Lichtenberg Georg Christoph
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg - quotes
Great people make mistakes too, and some of them so often that you are almost tempted to consider them insignificant people. 
(German: Georg Christoph Lichtenberg) - an outstanding German scientist, moralist and satirist, an outstanding educator.
As a scientist, Lichtenberg became famous for his lectures on experimental physics, his experiments using apparatus and instruments that he improved, as well as the discovery of electrical figures named after him - Lichtenberg. It was he who introduced the designation of different types of electricity with the signs “+” and “-” positive and negative voltage. In that historical meaning Lichtenberg as a physicist.
As a publicist and critic, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg became famous for a number of polemical articles and notes that revealed independence, breadth of views, subtlety of judgment, irony and a wonderful sense of humor. The best works of this genre are “Detailed explanations for Hogarth’s copper engravings” and “Inscriptions for Khodovetsky’s copper engravings”, “On physiognomy against physiognomists”, etc.
Lichtenberg wrote his polemical notes on the topic of the day, where with deadly irony he ridiculed the sentimental fantasy, mysticism and charlatanism of the era of “Storm and Drang”, as well as a number of small articles - witty and humorous, forcing one to recognize in Lichtenberg a first-class humorist and satirist, who was called "German Swift".
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg became famous as the author of wonderful and witty aphorisms. The observant and sharp eye of the satirist allowed him to notice the weaknesses and shortcomings of people, joke or ridicule, draw conclusions or warn. “Aphorisms” by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg is a writer’s notebook in which he entered his thoughts, jokes, observations, impromptu, outlines for future works. “Aphorisms” of Lichtenberg →
BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG (1742-1799)
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was born on July 1, 1742 near Darmstadt. He was the seventeenth child in the family of the Protestant pastor Johann Conrad Lichtenberg.
As a child he developed a hump, which stunted his growth and left him permanently sick. These health problems greatly complicated his life, causing great physical discomfort, even negatively affecting the functioning of the respiratory system.
IN early childhood The boy has already shown extraordinary abilities. He graduated from the Latin School and showed great interest in mathematics.
However, not rich the large family could not provide him with university education. His mother petitioned Landgrave Ludwig VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt for financial assistance in 1762 and helped her talented son get an education.
In 1763, Georg Christoph became a student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Göttingen.
In 1769, Lichtenberg was already a professor of physics and astronomy, and six years later he became a professor, received a chair and worked in this position for the rest of his life.
Lichtenberg's fame was brought to him by his "Aphorisms" - notebooks that he kept from his youth until his death and from 1764 he began to publish them regularly.
“Aphorisms” are notes - philosophical, literary, socio-political, everyday, which allow us to see in their author an outstanding representative of the Enlightenment, an adherent of the principles of realism in art, an exposer of the political fragmentation of the country, serfdom, social inequality, a talented master of the aphoristic form.
In scientific and intellectual circles, Lichtenberg enjoyed enormous authority, knew and was on friendly terms with many famous people of that time, in particular with Kant and Goethe. His lectures were attended by Carl Friedrich Gauss, a famous mathematician, Alessandro Volta, the greatest Italian physicist, came to Göttingen solely to get acquainted with Lichtenberg and his experiment.
In 1793, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was elected a member of the Royal Society of London. In 1770 and 1774-1775 the famous scientist and publicist traveled around England, where he was warmly received by George III and Queen Charlotte.
Physical disabilities did not prevent Lichtenberg from enjoying the favor of women, having many connections, he was married twice, and had six children. At the age of 56, on February 24, 1799, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg died.
Biography
Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph - German writer, moralist and satirist, scientist, outstanding educator. Born near Darmstadt in the family of a village pastor. As a child he developed a hump, which stunted his growth and left him permanently sick. He was a professor of physics and astronomy in Göttingen and a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. As a scientist, Lichtenberg became famous for his lectures on experimental physics, which he explained with experiments using devices he himself made and improved, and for the discovery of electrical figures named after him (“Lichtenberg’s”). As a critic and publicist, he approaches Lessing in the breadth of his philosophical views and the independence and subtlety of his critical judgments. Most of his works are scientific and popular science works.
He also wrote journalistic articles on the topic of the day, polemical notes in which he castigates with deadly irony sentimental fantasy and all kinds of mysticism and charlatanism of the “Sturm und Drang” era, as well as a number of small articles, witty and humorous, forcing one to recognize Lichtenberg as a first-class humorist and a satirist, who was called the “German Swift” (published in popular magazines; his parody of Lavater is especially good - “On physiognomy against physiognomists”). The most valuable part of it literary heritage– “Detailed explanations of Hogarth’s copper engravings” and a collection of aphorisms. “Detailed explanations...” are interesting because they are not just comments, but a kind of piece of art, where the description and interpretation of each engraving turns into a complete chapter of a satirical everyday novel.
“Aphorisms” by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg is the writer’s notebook, in which he entered his thoughts, jokes, observations, impromptu, outlines for future works (there is a Russian translation). From England, where he traveled twice, Lichtenberg wrote a number of interesting letters (to G.-Chr. Boyer).
No less interesting and attractive is his own characterization, made by him shortly before his death. > From the statements of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: “What capacity for improvement a person has and how necessary training is can be seen from the fact that now, in sixty years of life, he masters a culture for which the entire human race took five thousand years.”
Biography (TSB, 1969-1978)
Lichtenberg Georg Christoph (1.7.1742, Oberramstadt, - 24.2.1799, Göttingen), German writer, publicist and scientist. He graduated from the University of Gögtingen, where he was a professor of physics from 1769. He studied a spark discharge at the interface between a solid dielectric and a gas (see Lichtenberg figures). Honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1795). L. owns pamphlets against the physiological fabrications of I. K. Lavater and the excessive sentimentality of the writers of Sturm and Drang. The pinnacle of his educational satire is “Detailed explanations for Hogarth’s copper engravings” (1794-99) and “Inscriptions for Khodowiecki’s copper engravings.” In "Aphorisms" (1762-99, published 1902-08) he opposed serfdom and political fragmentation, welcomed the Great French Revolution, and defended realistic art.
Works: Aphorism. Essays. Briefe, Lpz., 1963; in Russian lane - Aphorisms, trans. and afterword, G. S. Slobodkina, 2nd ed., M., 1965.
Lit.: Troyskaya M.L., German satire of the Enlightenment, Leningrad, 1962, ch. 5; Promies W., Georg Christoph Lichtenberg in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1964.
Biography
Lichtenberg Georg Christoph, German writer, publicist and scientist, Honorary Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1795), was born in 1742 in the city of Oberramstadt in the family of a poor Protestant pastor. He graduated from a regular Latin school and entered the University of Göttingen at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, where from 1769 he was a professor of physics. Investigated a spark discharge at the interface between a solid dielectric and a gas.
Since 1764, Lichtenberg begins to publish “Aphorisms,” which he published until the end of his life - these are a kind of notes of a socio-political, philosophical, literary and everyday nature that characterize him as an outstanding representative of the late German Enlightenment, a staunch opponent of social inequality and political fragmentation of Germany. Lichtenberg was a supporter of the Great French Revolution, a champion of democratic, realistic art. In "Aphorisms" Lichtenberg also opposed serfdom and defended realistic art.
He is deservedly considered one of the outstanding masters of educational aphorism, who knew how to clothe his thoughts in the form of an ironic paradox.
Lichtenberg wrote pamphlets against the physiological fabrications of the Swiss I. C. Lavater, who, according to Lichtenberg, allowed in his works a mixture of illiteracy and various superstitions. He was no less critical of the excessive sentimentality of the writers of Sturm and Drang.
The pinnacle of his educational satire are considered to be “Detailed explanations for Hogarth’s copper engravings” (1794-1799) and “Inscriptions for Khodovetsky’s copper engravings.” He died in 1799 in Göttingen.
Biography (en.wikipedia.org)
Lichtenberg was born into the family of a village pastor. As a child he developed a hump, which stunted his growth and left him permanently sick. He was a professor of physics and astronomy in Göttingen and a foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. As a scientist, Lichtenberg became famous for his lectures on experimental physics, which he explained with experiments using his own improved apparatus, and for the discovery of electrical figures named after him (Lichtenberg figures). It was he who introduced the designation of different types of electricity with the signs “+” and “?” (positive and negative voltage). This is the historical significance of Lichtenberg as a physicist. Before him, electricity had other designations - “glass” and “gutta-percha”, “amber” and “wool”, etc., which created confusion.
As a critic and publicist, he approaches Lessing in the breadth of his philosophical views and the independence and subtlety of his critical judgments. His “Hogarth's Explanations” and polemical articles and notes, in which he ironically castigates sentimental fantasy and all kinds of mysticism and charlatanism of the “Sturm und Drang” era, as well as a number of small articles, witty and humorous, characterize Lichtenberg as a first-class humorist and satirist , German Swift.
Lichtenberg's best satirical articles: "Timorus" and "Fragment von Schwanzen" - parodies of Lavater's dithyrambic and hyperbolic style; “On physiognomy against physiognomists” is an article directed against “Physiognomy” by the same Lavater. Lichtenberg often joked about the corruption of literary language and the works of imaginary “geniuses,” for example in “Vorschlag zu einem Orbis pictus,” in “The Most Merciful Message of the Earth to the Moon,” in “Consolation for the Unfortunate Who Are Not Original Geniuses.” From England, where he traveled twice, Lichtenberg wrote a number of interesting letters (to G.-Chr. Boyer). No less interesting and attractive is his own characterization, made by him shortly before his death. In A Detailed Explanatory Text to Hogarth's Engravings (1791-1799), Lichtenberg's humor rose to a height worthy of Hogarth.
From a young age until the end of his life, Lichtenberg kept notebooks, to which he primarily owes his posthumous literary fame. Kant, already at the end of his life, valued Lichtenberg extremely highly, and his personal copy of “Aphorisms” was literally covered with notes made alternately with a red and a black pen. Schopenhauer considered Lichtenberg a thinker in the full sense of the word - thinking for himself, and not for the needs of the public. Nietzsche placed the Aphorisms, along with Eckermann's Conversations on Goethe, at the very heart of the "treasury of German prose." In 1878, Wagner admitted that he saw in them an anticipation of his own theories...
- André Breton
"Lichtenberg's Vermischte Schriften" was published in Göttingen in 1800-1805; a more complete collection of works, together with the Ausfuhrliche Erklarungen der Hogarthschen Kupferstiche, was published by Lichtenberg's sons in 1844-1853.
Notes
1. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Physikvorlesung. Nach J.Chr. P. Erxlebens Anfangsgrunden der Naturlehre. Aus den Erinnerungen von Gottlieb Gamauf, bearbeitet und mit einer Einleitung versehen von Fritz Krafft, marixverlag Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-098-1
2. Olaf Skibbe (Heidelberg, Kirchhoff-Institut fur Physik). Sechs Originalarbeiten von Georg Christoph Lichtenberg uber die elektrischen Figuren (German), 2006
3. Breton A. Anthology of black humor / Comp., comments, intro. article by S. Dubin. - M.: Carte Blanche, 1999. - P. 65. - 544 p. - ISBN 5-900504-26-3
Translations
* Lichtenberg G.K. Aphorisms / Edition prepared by G.S. Slobodkin. 2nd ed. M., 1965. (Literary monuments).
Literature
* Grisebach, “Gedanken und Maximen aus Lichtenberg’s Schriften” (with biography, Leipzig, 1871);
* Wilbrandt (Stuttgart, 1893);
* Meyer, “Jonathan Swift und Lichtenberg, zwei Satiriker des XVIII Jahrh.” (B., 1866);
* Lauchert, “Lichtenberg's schriftstell. Thatigkeit" (Göttingen, 1893).