Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes

The human body is the best picture of the human soul.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Soul, Human Body, Fitness

It seems to me that, in every culture, I come across a chapter headed 'Wisdom.' And then I know exactly what is going to follow: 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Going, Come, Headed, Chapter

Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Nothing, Difficult, Oneself, Deceiving

Uttering a word is like striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Like, Keyboard, Note, Striking

I sit astride life like a bad rider on a horse. I only owe it to the horse's good nature that I am not thrown off at this very moment.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Bad, Like, Very, Rider

Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Death, Eternity, Infinite, Duration

A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Door, Will, Rather, Opens

A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Seed, New, Like, New Word

The real discovery is the one which enables me to stop doing philosophy when I want to. The one that gives philosophy peace, so that it is no longer tormented by questions which bring itself into question.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Doing, Question, Which, Tormented

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.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

People, Fewer, Mechanics, Vastly

The common behavior of mankind is the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Reference, Which, Means, Interpret

Don't get involved in partial problems, but always take flight to where there is a free view over the whole single great problem, even if this view is still not a clear one.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Flight, Always, Over, Partial

Our greatest stupidities may be very wise.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Wise, May, Very, Stupidities

Not every religion has to have St. Augustine's attitude to sex. Why even in our culture marriages are celebrated in a church, everyone present knows what is going to happen that night, but that doesn't prevent it being a religious ceremony.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Church, Why, Religious, Ceremony

An inner process stands in need of outward criteria.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Process, Need, Stands, Outward

When one is frightened of the truth then it is never the whole truth that one has an inkling of.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Truth, Never, Whole, Frightened

It is an hypothesis that the sun will rise tomorrow: and this means that we do not know whether it will rise.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Will, Means, Whether, Hypothesis

A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Work, Could, Consisting, Jokes

The limits of my language means the limits of my world.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Language, World, Means, Limits

Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Door, Achieve, Like, Open

Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Green, Never, Cleverness, Silliness

Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

End, Acknowledgement, Based, In The End

I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Here, Pretty, Sure, Order

Logic is not a body of doctrine, but a mirror-image of the world. Logic is transcendental.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

World, Logic, Transcendental, Doctrine

Like everything metaphysical the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Harmony, Metaphysical, Found, Between

If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

People, Silly, Nothing, Silly Things

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.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Exhibition, Which, Seclusion

For a truly religious man nothing is tragic.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Man, Nothing, Religious, Tragic

A philosophical problem has the form: I don't know my way about.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Problem, About, Form, Philosophical

There are remarks that sow and remarks that reap.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Reap, Sow, Remarks

Man has to awaken to wonder - and so perhaps do peoples. Science is a way of sending him to sleep again.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Science, Sleep, Perhaps, Sending

A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Never, Philosopher, Boxer, Taking

The logic of the world is prior to all truth and falsehood.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Truth, World, Logic, Prior

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Battle, Against, Means, Philosophy

Philosophy is not a theory but an activity.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Activity, Theory, Philosophy

What is your aim in philosophy? To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Fly, Aim, Show, Philosophy

If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Talk, Understand, Could, Lion

Humor is not a mood but a way of looking at the world. So if it is correct to say that humor was stamped out in Nazi Germany, that does not mean that people were not in good spirits, or anything of that sort, but something much deeper and more important.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Mood, Correct, Germany, Deeper

Propositions show what they say: tautologies and contradictions show that they say nothing.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Nothing, Say, Contradictions, They Say

One often makes a remark and only later sees how true it is.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

How, Later, Sees, Remark

Nowadays it is the fashion to emphasize the horrors of the last war. I didn't find it so horrible. There are just as horrible things happening all round us today, if only we had eyes to see them.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Nowadays, Horrible Things, Happening

Logic takes care of itself; all we have to do is to look and see how it does it.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

See, How, Itself, Logic

Logic must look after itself. In a certain sense, we cannot make mistakes in logic.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Cannot, Itself, We Cannot, Logic

It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Skills, Himself, Which, Concern

One of the most misleading representational techniques in our language is the use of the word 'I.'

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Most, Representational, Misleading

A picture is a fact.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Fact, Picture

Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Part, Than, Organism, Complicated

Resting on your laurels is as dangerous as resting when you are walking in the snow. You doze off and die in your sleep.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Die, Resting, Dangerous, Laurels

You get tragedy where the tree, instead of bending, breaks.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Tragedy, Breaks, Bending, Instead

A confession has to be part of your new life.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

New, Part, Your, Confession

What can be shown, cannot be said.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Said, Cannot, Shown

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Silent, Cannot, Thereof, Speak

The world is the totality of facts, not of things.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

World, Things, Totality, Facts

Someone who knows too much finds it hard not to lie.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Lie, Someone, Too, Finds

A nothing will serve just as well as a something about which nothing could be said.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Will, Could, Which, Said

The face is the soul of the body.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Soul, Body, Face

You learned the concept 'pain' when you learned language.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Pain, Language, Learned, Concept

The world is independent of my will.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Independence, World, Will, Independent

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