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Ludwig Wittgenstein: 456 quotes286 likes

“A teacher who can show good, or indeed astounding results while he is teaching, is still not on that account a good teacher, for it may be that, while his pupils are under his immediate influence, he raises them to a level which is not natural to them, without developing their own capacities for work at this level, so that they immediately decline again once the teacher leaves the schoolroom.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 43e

“It seems to me as good as certain that we cannot get the upper hand against England. The English — the best race in the world — cannot lose! We, however, can lose and shall lose, if not this year then next year. The thought that our race is going to be beaten depresses me terribly, because I am completely German.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Writing about the eventual outcome of World War I, in which he was a volunteer in the Austro-Hungarian army (25 October 1914), as quoted in The First World War (2004) by Martin Gilbert, p. 104
1910s

“For remember that in general we don't use language according to strict rules — it hasn't been taught us by means of strict rules, either.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: 1930s-1951, The Blue Book (c. 1931–1935; published 1965), p. 25

“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

Source: Personal Recollections (1981), p. 96

“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.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: 1930s-1951, Philosophical Occasions 1912-1951 (1993), Ch. 7 : Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough, p. 123

“Philosophy hasn’t made any progress?—If someone scratches where it itches, do we have to see progress? Is it not genuine scratching otherwise, or genuine itching?”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 98e

“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 book Philosophical Investigations

§ 133
Philosophical Investigations (1953)

“So in the end when one is doing philosophy one gets to the point where one would like just to emit an inarticulate sound.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein book Philosophical Investigations

§ 261
Philosophical Investigations (1953)

“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

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 35e

“If you want to go down deep you do not need to travel far; indeed, you don't have to leave your most immediate and familiar surroundings.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 50e

“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

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 53e

“"Fare well!"
"A whole world of pain is contained in these words." How can it be contained in them? — It is bound up in them. The words are like an acorn from which an oak tree can grow.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 52e

“If life becomes hard to bear we think of improvements. But the most important and effective improvement, in our own attitude, hardly occurs to us, and we can decide on this only with the utmost difficulty.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 60e

“People nowadays think that scientists exist to instruct them, poets, musicians, etc. to give them pleasure. The idea that these have something to teach them”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

that does not occur to them.
Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 36e

“I squander untold effort making an arrangement of my thoughts that may have no value whatever.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 33e

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

Ludwig Wittgenstein book Philosophical Investigations

Pt II, p. 178
Philosophical Investigations (1953)

“"It is necessary to be given the prop that all elementary props are given." This is not necessary because it is even impossible. There is no such prop! That all elementary props are given is SHOWN by there being none having an elementary sense which is not given.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Notes of 1919, as quoted in Ludwig Wittgenstein : The Duty of Genius (1990) by Ray Monk
1910s

“If life becomes hard to bear we think of a change in our circumstances. But the most important and effective change, a change in our own attitude, hardly even occurs to us, and the resolution to take such a step is very difficult for us.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 53e

“Don’t say: “They must have something in common, or they would not be called ‘games’” but look and see whether there is anything common to all. For if you look at them, you won’t see something that is common to all, but similarities, affinities, and a whole series of them at that. To repeat: don’t think, but look!”

Ludwig Wittgenstein book Philosophical Investigations

§ 66
Philosophical Investigations (1953)

“A proposition is completely logically analyzed if its grammar is made completely clear: no matter what idiom it may be written or expressed in…”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Philosophical Remarks (1930), Part I (1)
1930s-1951