Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes
Philosopher
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Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, whose work deeply impacted the fields of language, logic, and the philosophy of mind. His writings, particularly *Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus* and *Philosophical Investigations*, explore the limits of language and the complexities of meaning, arguing that language shapes our understanding of reality. The following quotes reflect Wittgenstein's profound insights into the nature of language, thought, and the challenges of expressing meaning in an often ambiguous world.
Everything that can be thought at all can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said can be said clearly.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Don't think, but look! (PI 66)
If you and I are to live religious lives, it mustn't be that we talk a lot about religion, but that our manner of life is different. It is my belief that only if you try to be helpful to other people will you in the end find your way to God.
The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.
Our craving for generality has [as one] source … our preoccupation with the method of science. I mean the method of reducing the explanation of natural phenomena to the smallest possible number of primitive natural laws; and, in mathematics, of unifying the treatment of different topics by using a generalization. Philosophers constantly see the method of science before their eyes, and are irresistibly tempted to ask and answer in the way science does. This tendency is the real source of metaphysics, and leads the philosopher into complete darkness. I want to say here that it can never be our job to reduce anything to anything, or to explain anything. Philosophy really is “purely descriptive.
Distrust of grammar is the first requisite for philosophizing.
From Notes on Logic by Ludwig Wittgenstein in Danish Language Translated by Noah Morten
Concerning that which cannot be talked about, we should not say anything.
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery.
I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.
A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.
How small a thought it takes to fill a life.
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.
Most of the propositions and questions to be found in philosophical works are not false but nonsensical.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Philosophy hasn't made any progress? - If somebody scratches the spot where he has an itch, do we have to see some progress? Isn't genuine scratching otherwise, or genuine itching itching? And can't this reaction to an irritation continue in the same way for a long time before a cure for the itching is discovered?
From Culture and Value
There is a truth in Schopenhauer’s view that philosophy is an organism, and that a book on philosophy, with a beginning and end, is a sort of contradiction. ... In philosophy matters are not simple enough for us to say ‘Let’s get a rough idea’, for we do not know the country except by knowing the connections between the roads.
Don't for heaven's sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense.
From Culture and Value
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.
From Philosophical Investigations
Language disguises thought.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language.
But some of the greatest achievements in philosophy could only be compared with taking up some books which seemed to belong together, and putting them on different shelves; nothing more being final about their positions than that they no longer lie side by side. The onlooker who doesn’t know the difficulty of the task might well think in such a case that nothing at all had been achieved.
I think one of the things you and I have to learn is that we have to live without the consolation of belonging to a Church....
Of one thing I am certain. The religion of the future will have to be extremely ascetic, and by that I don't mean just going without food and drink.
Everything that can be thought at all can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said can be said clearly.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Don't think, but look! (PI 66)
If you and I are to live religious lives, it mustn't be that we talk a lot about religion, but that our manner of life is different. It is my belief that only if you try to be helpful to other people will you in the end find your way to God.
The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.
Our craving for generality has [as one] source … our preoccupation with the method of science. I mean the method of reducing the explanation of natural phenomena to the smallest possible number of primitive natural laws; and, in mathematics, of unifying the treatment of different topics by using a generalization. Philosophers constantly see the method of science before their eyes, and are irresistibly tempted to ask and answer in the way science does. This tendency is the real source of metaphysics, and leads the philosopher into complete darkness. I want to say here that it can never be our job to reduce anything to anything, or to explain anything. Philosophy really is “purely descriptive.
Distrust of grammar is the first requisite for philosophizing.
From Notes on Logic by Ludwig Wittgenstein in Danish Language Translated by Noah Morten
Concerning that which cannot be talked about, we should not say anything.
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery.
I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.
A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.
How small a thought it takes to fill a life.
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.
Most of the propositions and questions to be found in philosophical works are not false but nonsensical.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Philosophy hasn't made any progress? - If somebody scratches the spot where he has an itch, do we have to see some progress? Isn't genuine scratching otherwise, or genuine itching itching? And can't this reaction to an irritation continue in the same way for a long time before a cure for the itching is discovered?
From Culture and Value
There is a truth in Schopenhauer’s view that philosophy is an organism, and that a book on philosophy, with a beginning and end, is a sort of contradiction. ... In philosophy matters are not simple enough for us to say ‘Let’s get a rough idea’, for we do not know the country except by knowing the connections between the roads.
Don't for heaven's sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense.
From Culture and Value
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.
From Philosophical Investigations
Language disguises thought.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language.
But some of the greatest achievements in philosophy could only be compared with taking up some books which seemed to belong together, and putting them on different shelves; nothing more being final about their positions than that they no longer lie side by side. The onlooker who doesn’t know the difficulty of the task might well think in such a case that nothing at all had been achieved.
I think one of the things you and I have to learn is that we have to live without the consolation of belonging to a Church....
Of one thing I am certain. The religion of the future will have to be extremely ascetic, and by that I don't mean just going without food and drink.
Everything that can be thought at all can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said can be said clearly.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Don't think, but look! (PI 66)
If you and I are to live religious lives, it mustn't be that we talk a lot about religion, but that our manner of life is different. It is my belief that only if you try to be helpful to other people will you in the end find your way to God.
The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.
Our craving for generality has [as one] source … our preoccupation with the method of science. I mean the method of reducing the explanation of natural phenomena to the smallest possible number of primitive natural laws; and, in mathematics, of unifying the treatment of different topics by using a generalization. Philosophers constantly see the method of science before their eyes, and are irresistibly tempted to ask and answer in the way science does. This tendency is the real source of metaphysics, and leads the philosopher into complete darkness. I want to say here that it can never be our job to reduce anything to anything, or to explain anything. Philosophy really is “purely descriptive.
Distrust of grammar is the first requisite for philosophizing.
From Notes on Logic by Ludwig Wittgenstein in Danish Language Translated by Noah Morten
Concerning that which cannot be talked about, we should not say anything.
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery.
I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.
A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.
How small a thought it takes to fill a life.
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.
Most of the propositions and questions to be found in philosophical works are not false but nonsensical.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Philosophy hasn't made any progress? - If somebody scratches the spot where he has an itch, do we have to see some progress? Isn't genuine scratching otherwise, or genuine itching itching? And can't this reaction to an irritation continue in the same way for a long time before a cure for the itching is discovered?
From Culture and Value
There is a truth in Schopenhauer’s view that philosophy is an organism, and that a book on philosophy, with a beginning and end, is a sort of contradiction. ... In philosophy matters are not simple enough for us to say ‘Let’s get a rough idea’, for we do not know the country except by knowing the connections between the roads.
Don't for heaven's sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense.
From Culture and Value
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.
From Philosophical Investigations
Language disguises thought.
From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language.
But some of the greatest achievements in philosophy could only be compared with taking up some books which seemed to belong together, and putting them on different shelves; nothing more being final about their positions than that they no longer lie side by side. The onlooker who doesn’t know the difficulty of the task might well think in such a case that nothing at all had been achieved.
I think one of the things you and I have to learn is that we have to live without the consolation of belonging to a Church....
Of one thing I am certain. The religion of the future will have to be extremely ascetic, and by that I don't mean just going without food and drink.
