110+ Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes For Budding Philosophers

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher, who studied philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.

Some of the major works Ludwig Wittgenstein produced are 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Philosophical Investigations' (Wittgenstein, 1921), 'Major Works Selected Philosophical Writings', and many more

In his books, the twentieth-century philosopher Wittgenstein talked about the role of language, logic and metaphysics, and ethics in determining the character. "In most cases, the meaning of a word is its use" is perhaps the most famous Wittgenstein saying.

So, if you are looking for Wittgenstein quotes on language or quotes by Ludwig Wittgenstein, this article has all you need. From Wittgenstein on love to Wittgenstein on art, find the Ludwig Wittgenstein philosophy quote you need here.

If you like these Ludwig Wittgenstein quotes, you can also check out these [Locke quotes] and logic quotes articles for more.

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Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes On Logic

These Ludwig Wittgenstein quotes speak of Wittgenstein philosophy on limits of language, math, and ethics. If you want to understand the role of Ludwig Wittgenstein quotes about silence on character development, then his book 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus' is just perfect for you. In the meantime, you can check late Wittgenstein views on art, love, and language here.

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

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

2. “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

4. “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein

5. “Hell isn't other people. Hell is yourself.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

6. “The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

7. “Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

8. “Don't think, but look!”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

10. "We are asleep. Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

12. “Only describe, don't explain.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

13. “An honest religious thinker is like a tightrope walker. He almost looks as though he were walking on nothing but air. His support is the slenderest imaginable. And yet it really is possible to walk on it.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

14. "When we can't think for ourselves, we can always quote."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

15. “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.

16. "What is the proof that I know something? Most certainly not my saying I know it.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

17. "For a truly religious man nothing is tragic."

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

19. "What can be shown, cannot be said."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

20. “The World and Life are one.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

21. "Religion is, as it were, the calm bottom of the sea at its deepest point, which remains calm however high the waves on the surface may be."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

23. "What can be said at all can be said clearly, and whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

24. Don't for heaven's sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

25. "To convince someone of the truth, it is not enough to state it, but rather one must find the path from error to truth."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

27. "When I am furious about something, I sometimes beat the ground or a tree with my walking stick. But I certainly do not believe that the ground is to blame or that my beating can help anything... And all rites are of this kind."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

28. “The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

29. “But doesn't it come out here that knowledge is related to a decision?”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

30. "How small a thought it takes to fill a life."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

31. "We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

32. "Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

33. “Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

35. "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 it."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

36. "If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

38. "Is my understanding only blindness to my own lack of understanding? It often seems so to me."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

39. "Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgment."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

40. "Nothing is more important than the formation of fictional concepts, which teach us at last to understand our own."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes On Language

The Wittgenstein philosophy of language argues that every discourse must be logical. It simply means that if you can't be logical, then you must not make illogical statements.

The constitution of sentences, concepts, learning, and thought is what forms the views of Ludwig Wittgenstein on language. Check out these Wittgenstein language quotes to learn more from the vast array of Ludwig Wittgenstein works.

41. "Philosophy is not a theory but an activity."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

42. "I act with complete certainty. But this certainty is my own."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

43. "Language disguises thought."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

44. "If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

47. "There is no more light in a genius than in any other honest man - but he has a particular kind of lens to concentrate this light into a burning point."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

48. “This is how philosophers should salute each other: Take your time.”

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

50. "The riddle does not exist. If a question can be put at all, then it can also be answered."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

51. "At the end of reasons comes persuasion."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

54. "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.

55. "The philosopher strives to find the liberating word, that is, the word that finally permits us to grasp what up to now has intangibly weighed down upon our consciousness."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

57. "To pray is to think about the meaning of life."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

58. “A confession has to be part of your new life.”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

59. "We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all. Of course, there is then no question left, and just this is the answer."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

60. "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.

61. “Always get rid of theory private object in this way: assume that it constantly changes, but that you do not notice the change because your memory constantly deceives you.”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

62. "What curious attitude scientists have: ‘We still don’t know that, but it is knowable and it is only a matter of time before we get to know it!’ As if that went without saying."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

63. "Idealism leads to realism if it is strictly thought out."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

65. “Aim at being loved without being admired.”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

66. "Genius is talent exercised with courage."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

67. "Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgment."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

68. "Philosophy unravels the knots in our thinking; hence its results must be simple, but its activity is as complicated as the knots that it unravels."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

69. "A tautology's truth is certain, a proposition's possible, a contradiction's impossible"

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

70. "If you use a trick in logic, whom can you be tricking other than yourself?"

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes About The Mind

Ludwig Wittgenstein linguistics theories form the basis of how we use words and actions to form the meaning of the language. Most of Ludwig Wittgenstein's works are based on language and understanding of the human mind. So, if you are looking for quotes on the mind to keep in mind, then keep on reading these Ludwig Wittgenstein quotes.

71. "Don't get involved in partial problems, but always take a 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.

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

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

74. "If we take an eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

76. "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.

77. "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 around us today if only we had eyes to see them."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

79. "Our greatest stupidities may be very wise."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

81. "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.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

85. "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.

86. "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.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

88. "The world of the happy is quite different from that of the unhappy."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

89. "At the core of all well-founded belief lies belief that is unfounded."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

90. "Ethics and aesthetics are one."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

91. "For an answer which cannot be expressed the question too cannot be expressed. The riddle does not exist. If a question can be put at all, then it can also be answered."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

92. "Philosophers are often like little children, who first scribble random lines on a piece of paper with their pencils, and now ask an adult 'What is that?'"

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

93. "If in life we are surrounded by death, then in the health of our intellect we are surrounded by madness."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

94. "If there were a verb meaning 'to believe falsely', it would not have any significant first person, present indicative."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

95. "Sometimes, in doing philosophy, one just wants to utter an inarticulate sound."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

96. "When you are philosophizing you have to descend into primeval chaos and feel at home there."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

97. "The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

98. "A picture held us captive. And we could not get outside it, for it lay in our language and language seemed to repeat it to us inexorably."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

99. "The eternal life is given to those who live in the present."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

100. "You can't think decently if you're not willing to hurt yourself."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

102. "The world is independent of my will."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

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

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

104. "The world is everything that is the case."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

105. "Tell them I've had a wonderful life."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

106. "The philosopher is not a citizen of any community of ideas, that is what makes him a philosopher."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

107. "It's impossible for me to say one word about all that music has meant to me in my life. How, then, can I hope to be understood?"

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

108. "Suppose someone were to say: 'Imagine this butterfly exactly as it is, but ugly instead of beautiful!'?"

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

109. "Belief in the causal nexus is superstition."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

110. " am not interested in constructing a building, so much as in having a perspicuous view of the foundations of possible buildings."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

111. "Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

112. "Music conveys to us itself!"

— Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Ludwig Wittgenstein quotes all about Wittgensteinian philosophy, then why not take a look at these mind over matter quotes or spiritual growth quotes for more?

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