Hello fellow members,
well it isn't quite an experiment, rather a little help from you for me. I was just looking for a thread title, interesting enough for people to click on it.
I also wasn't sure whether to open a new thread for this neither wanted I to hijack another.
But here am I and here you are. Feel free to use this for many more quotation analysis.
G. C. Lichtenberg said that. Now, I'm sure about the content, meaning I understand the words he's saying.The sure conviction that we could if we wanted to, is the reason so many good minds are idle.
(I'm actually not sure whether he said/wrote it in english or german, I couldn't find anything but being described as an anglophile and having worked in Britain, he might as well have said it in english.)
Where I am stuck is when I think a little bit more about it.
What is it? What could we do if we wanted to? And why is it the sure conviction that keeps us idle and not the particular thought itself?
At first glance I could refer it to my own situation: I'm amidst some changes in my life. Occupational personal and creatively. Usually I approach this as many doors being opened. But now I see a lot of options... too many. And all the preparation that comes with it. I know that all I need to do is pick a path and attack it, then good things can come of it, but I feel paralyzed by the sheer amount so that I find myself in stagnation rather than progress.
I wonder if Lichtenberg thought of a similar subject, or if I'm completely off.
Now I don't want you to "google" for me. I have done that myself and came up short. All you find is a bunch of quotations websites that recite the same quote. It would have been nice to find some context, though.
I rather read your personal thoughts you had when reading and thinking about this phrase.
Thank you!
Vandelay.