Science Quote by Georg C. Lichtenberg

Genius, Lichtenberg suggests, is less a thunderbolt than a calendar problem. Nearly everyone, given enough time, will stumble into a dazzling connection, a clever fix, a rare moment when the brain feels like it has secret access. The jab is in the framing: if brilliance happens “at least once a year,” then the cultural mythology of Genius-with-a-capital-G starts to look like selective memory plus better scheduling.

As a scientist and aphorist in the Enlightenment’s long shadow, Lichtenberg is poking at two targets at once. First, vanity: the comforting belief that an occasional good idea is proof of exceptionalism. Second, elitism: the romantic notion that geniuses are a different species. He reroutes genius from essence to frequency. The “real geniuses” aren’t necessarily thinking thoughts no one else could think; they’re generating useful, bright thoughts at a density that changes outcomes. Quantity becomes a proxy for quality because repetition increases the odds of a breakthrough and the speed with which it can be tested, refined, and applied.

The subtext is quietly modern: creativity is partly statistics, partly habit. Inspiration isn’t denied, just demystified. “Closer together” implies not only more ideas, but less downtime between them - a life structured around attention, curiosity, and relentless iteration. It’s an anti-heroic theory of intellect: genius as rhythm, not revelation. In one sentence, Lichtenberg cuts the ego down to size and elevates the unglamorous engine of science - sustained, repeatable insight.