“There are no doubts so small that they cannot be magnified by discussion.”Georg Christoph Lichtenberg · Caietele de însemnări · 1799 · Caietul K, însemnarea 18
Certainty isn't won by talking: every added argument invites a counterargument, and doubt grows instead of shrinking.
Lichtenberg notices a paradox of reason: any thesis argued in public attracts counterarguments, and each one leaves a crack. The mechanism is that the mind is better at generating than at eliminating, so debate adds possibilities instead of removing them. Consider someone sure about a purchase who reads reviews all evening and ends up paralyzed. That does not mean silence fixes everything, only that certainty is not won by talking.
This passage goes one step further: if debate multiplies possibilities, then knowing when to stop discussing becomes a skill in itself. Lichtenberg, at bottom, suggests doubt is not a flaw to fix but a natural product of active thinking. A mind that argues keeps producing new alternatives, like someone choosing a restaurant who reconsiders at every suggestion from friends. A good decision comes not from the longest deliberation but from knowing when to end it. Certainty is not won by talking, nor by waiting; it is won by closing deliberation in time. The next question: what signs show it is time to close the discussion with yourself?
Why it matters Useful in the age of online debate: once a decision is made, more opinions will not make it clearer.