- If there were a verb meaning “to believe falsely,” it would not have any significant first person, present indicative. - View Quote Details on If there were a verb meaning “to believe falsely,” it…
- 94. But I did not get my picture of the world by satisfying myself of its correctness; nor do I have it because I am satisfied of its correctness. No: it is the inherited background against which I distinguish between true and false. - View Quote Details on 94. But I did not get my picture of the…
- If you use a trick in logic, whom can you be tricking other than yourself? (p. 24e) - View Quote Details on If you use a trick in logic, whom can you…
- One of the most difficult of the philosopher’s tasks is to find out where the shoe pinches. (p. 60) - View Quote Details on One of the most difficult of the philosopher’s tasks is…
- 378. Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement. - View Quote Details on 378. Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement.
- Someone who knows too much finds it hard not to lie. - View Quote Details on Someone who knows too much finds it hard not to…
- 370. But more correctly: The fact that I use the word ‘hand’ and all the other words in my sentence without a second thought, indeed that I should stand before the abyss if I wanted so much as to try doubting their meanings — shows that absence of doubt belongs to the essence of the language-game, that the question “How do I know…” drags out the language-game, or else does away with it. - View Quote Details on 370. But more correctly: The fact that I use the…
- Hot Ziggety! - View Quote Details on Hot Ziggety!
- Wisdom is passionless. But faith by contrast is what Kierkegaard calls a passion. (p. 53e) - View Quote Details on Wisdom is passionless. But faith by contrast is what Kierkegaard…
- If a person tells me he has been to the worst places I have no reason to judge him; but if he tells me it was his superior wisdom that enabled him to go there, then I know he is a fraud. - View Quote Details on If a person tells me he has been to the…
- The whole sense of the book might be summed up the following words: what can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence. - View Quote Details on The whole sense of the book might be summed up…
- The world is all that is the case. (1) - View Quote Details on The world is all that is the case. (1)
- One often makes a remark and only later sees how true it is. - View Quote Details on One often makes a remark and only later sees how…
- Certainly it is correct to say: Conscience is the voice of God. (p. 75) - View Quote Details on Certainly it is correct to say: Conscience is the voice…
- Ambition is the death of thought. (p. 77e) - View Quote Details on Ambition is the death of thought. (p. 77e)
- Frazer’s account of the magical and religious views of mankind is unsatisfactory; it makes these views look like errors. (p. 119) - View Quote Details on Frazer’s account of the magical and religious views of mankind…
- 206. If someone asked us ‘but is that true?’ we might say ‘yes’ to him; and if he demanded grounds we might say ‘I can’t give you any grounds, but if you learn more you too will think the same.’ - View Quote Details on 206. If someone asked us ‘but is that true?’ we…
- A man’s thinking goes on within his consciousness in a seclusion in comparison with which any physical seclusion is an exhibition to public view. - View Quote Details on A man’s thinking goes on within his consciousness in a…
- Animals come when their names are called. Just like human beings. (p. 67e) - View Quote Details on Animals come when their names are called. Just like human…
- Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself. (p. 34e) - View Quote Details on Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself. (p. 34e)
- 205. If the true is what is grounded, then the ground is not true, nor yet false. - View Quote Details on 205. If the true is what is grounded, then the…
- The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something - because it is always before one’s eyes.) The real foundations of his enquiry do not strike a man at all. Unless that fact has at some time struck him. — And this means: we fail to be struck by what, once seen, is most striking and most powerful. (129) - View Quote Details on The aspects of things that are most important for us…
- What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts. (2) - View Quote Details on What is the case, the fact, is the existence of…
- For a truly religious man nothing is tragic. - View Quote Details on For a truly religious man nothing is tragic.
- Philosophers often behave like little children who scribble some marks on a piece of paper at random and then ask the grown-up “What’s that?” — It happened like this: the grown-up had drawn pictures for the child several times and said “this is a man,” “this is a house,” etc. And then the child makes some marks too and asks: what’s this then? (p. 17e) - View Quote Details on Philosophers often behave like little children who scribble some marks…
- My aim is: to teach you to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent nonsense. (464) - View Quote Details on My aim is: to teach you to pass from a…
- A confession has to be part of your new life. (p. 18e) - View Quote Details on A confession has to be part of your new life…
- The logic of the world is prior to all truth and falsehood. - View Quote Details on The logic of the world is prior to all truth…
- Does man think because he has found that thinking pays?
Does he bring his children up because he has found it pays? (467) - View Quote Details on Does man think because he has found that thinking pays?… - The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is. - View Quote Details on The mystical is not how the world is, but that…
- Ethics and Aesthetics are one. - View Quote Details on Ethics and Aesthetics are one.
- I cannot get from the nature of the proposition to the individual logical operations!!! That is, I cannot bring out how far the proposition is the picture of the situation. I am almost inclined to give up all my efforts. (p. 41) - View Quote Details on I cannot get from the nature of the proposition to…
- It is quite impossible for a proposition to state that it itself is true. (4.442) - View Quote Details on It is quite impossible for a proposition to state that…
- If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world. - View Quote Details on If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a…
- I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden; he says again and again ‘I know that that’s a tree’, pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell them: ‘This fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy.’ (p. 578) - View Quote Details on I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden; he…
- “Everything is already there in….” How does it come about that [an] arrow points ? Doesn’t it seem to carry in it something besides itself? — “No, not the dead line on paper; only the psychical thing, the meaning, can do that.” — That is both true and false. The arrow points only in the application that a living being makes of it. (454) - View Quote Details on “Everything is already there in….” How does it come about…
- Our greatest stupidities may be very wise. (p. 39e) - View Quote Details on Our greatest stupidities may be very wise. (p. 39e)
- A tautology’s truth is certain, a proposition’s possible, a contradiction’s impossible. (Certain, possible, impossible: here we have the first indication of the scale that we need in the theory of probability.) (4.464) - View Quote Details on A tautology’s truth is certain, a proposition’s possible, a contradiction’s…
- A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes. - View Quote Details on A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting…
- If a lion could talk, we could not understand him (II, xi; p. 223 of the 1968 English edn.) - View Quote Details on If a lion could talk, we could not understand him…
- Every explanation is after all an hypothesis. (p. 123) - View Quote Details on Every explanation is after all an hypothesis. (p. 123)
- 253. At the core of all well-founded belief, lies belief that is unfounded. - View Quote Details on 253. At the core of all well-founded belief, lies belief…
- The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language. - View Quote Details on The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of…
- I am my world. (The microcosm.) (5.63) - View Quote Details on I am my world. (The microcosm.) (5.63)
- There are remarks that sow and remarks that reap. - View Quote Details on There are remarks that sow and remarks that reap.
- The human body is the best picture of the human soul. - View Quote Details on The human body is the best picture of the human…
- I once wanted to give a few words in the foreword which now actually are not in it, which, however, I’ll write to you now because they might be a key for you: I wanted to write that my work consists of two parts: of the one which is here, and of everything which I have not written. And precisely this second part is the important one. - View Quote Details on I once wanted to give a few words in the…
- The world is the totality of facts, not things. (1.1) - View Quote Details on The world is the totality of facts, not things. (1.1)
- 310. A pupil and a teacher. The pupil will not let anything be explained to him, for he continually interrupts with doubts, for instance as to the existence of things, the meaning for words, etc. The teacher says ‘Stop interrupting me and do as I tell you. So far your doubts don’t make sense at all.’ - View Quote Details on 310. A pupil and a teacher. The pupil will not…
- It is so characteristic, that just when the mechanics of reproduction are so vastly improved, there are fewer and fewer people who know how the music should be played. - View Quote Details on It is so characteristic, that just when the mechanics of…
- “Well, God has arrived. I met him on the 5:15 train”. -John Maynard Keynes - View Quote Details on “Well, God has arrived. I met him on the 5:15…
- At the end of reasons comes persuasion. - View Quote Details on At the end of reasons comes persuasion.
- Man has to awaken to wonder — and so perhaps do peoples. Science is a way of sending him to sleep again. (p. 5e) - View Quote Details on Man has to awaken to wonder — and so perhaps…
- Kierkegaard writes: If Christianity were so easy and cozy, why should God in his Scriptures have set Heaven and Earth in motion and threatened eternal punishments? — Question: But then in that case why is this Scriptures so unclear? (p. 31e) - View Quote Details on Kierkegaard writes: If Christianity were so easy and cozy, why…
- A good guide will take you through the more important streets more often than he takes you down side streets; a bad guide will do the opposite. In philosophy I’m a rather bad guide. - View Quote Details on A good guide will take you through the more important…
- The meaning of life, i.e. the meaning of the world, we can call God. - View Quote Details on The meaning of life, i.e. the meaning of the world,…
- It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him. - View Quote Details on It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher…
- The English - the best race in the world - cannot lose. (Regarding the chances of the Austrian Empire in the First World War, on the side of which he fought) - View Quote Details on The English - the best race in the world -…
- Burning in effigy. Kissing the picture of one’s beloved… it aims at nothing at all; we just behave this way and then we feel satisfied. (p. 123) - View Quote Details on Burning in effigy. Kissing the picture of one’s beloved… it…
- What do I know about God and the purpose of life?
I know that this world exists. - View Quote Details on What do I know about God and the purpose of… - Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in ‘philosophical propositions’, but rather in the clarification of propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries. (4.112) - View Quote Details on Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is…
- A proposition is completely logically analyzed if its grammar is made clear in no matter what idiom. Part I(1) - View Quote Details on A proposition is completely logically analyzed if its grammar is…
- If I cannot say a priori what elementary propositions there are, then the attempt to do so must lead to obvious nonsense. (5.5571) - View Quote Details on If I cannot say a priori what elementary propositions there…
- Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of our language. #109 - View Quote Details on Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence…
- To believe in God means to see that the facts of the world are not the end of the matter.
To believe in God means to see that life has a meaning. - View Quote Details on To believe in God means to see that the facts…
About Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein (26 April 1889 - 29 April 1951 ) was an Austrian-born philosopher who spent much of his life in England.