Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799)

I finished _The Waste Books_ by Lichtenberg. I really like this book. It’s a collection of paragraphs about the world, impressions of someone who sees themselves as part of the Enlightenment, but who feels society bears down on him and others in a way that’s repressive and against the better angels of our nature. His witty questions and answers are like a sieve for approaching the most important questions we face as humans. He prefigures a lot of more modern thought, where we can see show more traces of things to come, like embodied cognition and pragmatism. But it’s not only philosophical; there are jokes, insults, exasperated sighs, small cries of pain. And for anyone interested in writing, the book is a goldmine of the vicissitudes of that profession: too many books exist, written by people for whom the book is more of a means of personal extension, part of the business of being someone in society, rather than the accumulated evidence of work towards an end honestly and genuinely approached. Most of what he says about his present of the eighteenth century still applies to our present. It’s also a book that can be read in tiny little chunks, like a bathroom reader. I read a little bit of it every morning after waking up. It was like reading a witty letter from a friend trying to bolster me for the day. show less

I first heard of Lichtenberg in Clive James’ Cultural Amnesia, which might well be my most costly purchase of all since it gave me so many unfamiliar names to go through. The Waste Books are just that, a collection of what were called ‘waste books’ (simply notebooks in modern terms) which Lichtenberg kept over the course of his life. They consist almost entirely of aphorisms, which rarely last longer than a few lines. As such this isn’t a cohesive reading experience as there’s no show more pattern or progression to it but it’s one which rewards being read in bite sized chunks and with the odd line here and there left to roll around your mind. It’s one to keep by your bedside or any other places you might read and contemplate rather than attempt to plough through in a sitting or two. It’s also strikingly modern in presentation, Lichtenberg’s admirable gift of concision being one more than two hundred years ahead of his time – he’d have been an absolute natural on Twitter. By turns witty, deep and sharply observed, this is a book to make the mind fizz. show less

"I have jotted down a host of little thoughts and sketches, but they are awaiting not so much a final revision as a few more glimpses of the sun that will make them blossom."

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was a German scientist of the late 18th century, who in science is most remembered for his discovery of Lichtenberg figures, radial treelike fractal figures which arise from electrical discharge on insulating material.

If I might use an incredibly ham-fisted metaphor here, this discovery is show more similar to his own literary endeavors. These 'scraps' are like lightning. These may be tentative conversational musings, or pleasant little aphorisms, but you can find the earliest roots of so many other Germans from Nietzsche to Wittgenstein, on herds, the church, morality, and language. In his aphorisms, you see the roots of other German thinkers.

To be sure, Lichtenberg is a more of a multitude of a man than this, and not everything is a scathing and profound investigation of humanity. At times, he can be very funny. Let me quote three examples:

"Whenever he composes a critical review, I have been told he gets an enormous erection."
"Nowadays three witty turns of phrase and a lie make a writer."
"If countries were named after the words you first hear when you go there, England would have to be called "Damn It"."

But Lichtenberg was also a scientist, too, and the rest of his books detail a curious and questioning eye towards all philosophies, ideas, and actions. He questions, he prods, he mocks. If anything, these aphorisms serve as the means for understanding a truly scientific mind.

"Of all the animals on earth, man is closest to the ape." (Pretty revolutionary for the late 18th century!)

"Ideas too are a life and a world."

"What has always pleased me about man is that he, who himself constructs Louvres, everlasting pyramids and churches of St Peter, can take delight in observing a cell of a honey-comb or a snail-shell."

"A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is unlikely to look out."

"The first rule with novels as well as plays is to regard the various characters as though they were pieces in a game of chess and not to seek to win one's game by changing the laws which govern these pieces-not move a knight like a pawn, etc. Secondly, to define these characters exactly and not render them inactive in order to reach one's final goal but rather to win by allowing them to be what they are. To do otherwise really means wanting to work miracles, which are always unnatural."

“You believe I run after the strange because I do not know the beautiful; no, it is because you do not know the beautiful that I seek the strange.”

"A bound book of blank paper has a charm all of its own."

"There are very many people who read simply to prevent themselves from thinking."

"Among those things that have most made me smile is the idea entertained by certain missionaries of baptizing a whole yardful of proselytes with a fire-engine..." But I might intrude here, this was indeed done in China in the 20th century.

"Non cogitant, ergo non sunt."

"Whisper, immortal muse, of the insanity of the great."

"Is our conception of God anything more than personified incomprehensibility?"

And so forth. On Kant, fashion, the French revolution, cats, drinking, his fellow Germans, bad books, bad book reviewers, all in the same way. This is not an organized book of philosophy, but it has enough interesting ideas and buds to entertain and amuse any reader who stumbles across them.

But again, I'll leave with another little aphorisms which sums up his own book perfectly: "There is no mistaking a good book when one meets it. It is like falling in love." show less

Man loves company, even if it is only that of a smouldering candle.
Lichtenberg's THE WASTE BOOKS is a book I've been dipping into for years and years. Chock-full of humorous, insightful, wise and quirky thoughts and observations, it is a great book to have on one's bedside table. Within its pages the reader will discover a mix of brilliantly crafted aphorisms, philosophical jottings and sketches, linguistic experiments, proverbs, jokes and curious phrases - 1,085 entries in all. Highly show more recommended to those who enjoy "wit and wisdom" in equal measure.
The most successful tempters and thus the most dangerous are the deluded deluders. - Notebook F, aphorism 120. show less