“I work quite diligently and wish that I were better and smarter. And these both are one and the same.”

—  Ludwig Wittgenstein

In a letter to Paul Engelmann (1917) as quoted in The Idea of Justice (2010) by Amartya Sen, p. 31
1910s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I work quite diligently and wish that I were better and smarter. And these both are one and the same." by Ludwig Wittgenstein?
Ludwig Wittgenstein photo
Ludwig Wittgenstein228
Austrian-British philosopher 1889–1951

Related quotes

Lucy Stone photo

“It is not quite the same when we are seventy-two as when we are twenty-seven; still I am glad of what is left, and wish we might both hold out till the victory we have sought is won, but all the same the victory is coming. In the aftertime the world will be the better for it.”

Lucy Stone (1818–1893) American abolitionist and suffragist

Letter to Susan B. Anthony (1891); as quoted in The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (1898) by Ida Husted Harper.

“It's good to see you, little one." He (Uncle Eddie) scanned her short skirt. "I only wish I were not seeing quite so much of you.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

W. H. Auden photo

“No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fondly believe their wish has been granted.”

W. H. Auden book The Dyer's Hand

"Writing", p. 14
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)

Vincent Van Gogh photo

“I work as diligently on my canvases as the laborers do in their fields.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

“After years of work in both areas of study, I concluded that the social sciences were different, in many important ways, from the natural sciences, but that the same scientific methods were applicable in both areas, and, indeed, that no very useful work could be done in either area except by scientific methods.”

Carroll Quigley (1910–1977) American historian

Source: The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (Second Edition 1979), Chapter 1, Scientific Method and the Social Sciences, p. 33

“Never wish life were easier, wish that you were better.”

Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker

Annie Proulx photo

“I wish I knew how to quit you.”

Annie Proulx book Brokeback Mountain

Source: Brokeback Mountain

Laurence Sterne photo

“I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I (1760), Ch. 1.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“My own experience with my films has been that the more I’m left alone, the better I do. It isn’t that I think I’m smarter than anyone, or anything like that. It’s just that whatever my instincts are, it’s better for me to be able to put those into play in my own work.”

Joan Micklin Silver (1935–2020) American film director

Primary Source - Directors Guild of America’s Visual Oral History Program - Interview by Michael Pressman - Chapter 3 - Visual History with Joan Micklin Silver https://www.dga.org/Craft/VisualHistory/Interviews/Joan-Micklin-Silver.aspx?Filter=Full%20Interview - 19 September 2005 - Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20210911133653/https://www.dga.org/Craft/VisualHistory/Interviews/Joan-Micklin-Silver.aspx?Filter=Full+Interview <br class="br">Secondary Sources - <br class="br">New York Times article by Anita Gates - Joan Micklin Silver, Director of ‘Crossing Delancey,’ Dies at 85 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/movies/joan-micklin-silver-dead.html - 1 January 2021 - Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20210911135615/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/movies/joan-micklin-silver-dead.html <br class="br">MSN Entertainment article by Tyler Aquilina - Joan Micklin Silver, boundary-breaking director of Crossing Delancey, dies at 85 https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/joan-micklin-silver-boundary-breaking-director-of-crossing-delancey-dies-at-85/ar-BB1cq6Pn - 2 January 2021 - Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20210911134333/https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/joan-micklin-silver-boundary-breaking-director-of-crossing-delancey-dies-at-85/ar-BB1cq6Pn

Carl Barks photo

“Work smarter, not harder”

Carl Barks (1901–2000) American cartoonist, author, and painter

Related topics