Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
As translated by Jerome Rothenberg
Venetian Epigrams (1790)
“Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery.”
Variant translation: The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is.
Original German: Nicht wie die Welt ist, ist das Mystische, sondern dass sie ist.
1920s, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)
Variant: The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is.
Context: It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists. (6.44)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery." by Ludwig Wittgenstein?
Ludwig Wittgenstein228
Austrian-British philosopher 1889–1951Related quotes
“How terrible this darkness was, how bewildering, and yet mysteriously beautiful!”
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) Austrian writer
Source: The Burning Secret and other stories
“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.”
P. J. O'Rourke book Parliament of Whores
Source: Parliament of Whores (1991), p. 14
“In a world of diminishing mystery, the unknown persists.”
Jhumpa Lahiri book The Lowland
Source: The Lowland
“The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
“A dream is the key that unlocks the mysteries of the waking world…”
Juliet Marillier (1948) New Zealand fiction writer
“The world would be a sad place without mysteries.”
David Gemmell book The King Beyond the Gate
Source: Drenai series, The King Beyond the Gate, Ch. 2