“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)

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 "Don’t say: “They must have something in common, or they would not be called ‘games’” but look and see whether there is …" by Ludwig Wittgenstein?

Ludwig Wittgenstein 228

Austrian-British philosopher 1889–1951

Ad Reinhardt (1913–1967) American painter

1956 - 1967
Source: the 'Ad Reinhardts Papers', Archives of American Art, microfilm no. N/69-103, frame no. 268

“Don’t say that I don’t mix with the common people, Joe; I sell used ’copters for a living. You can’t get any commoner. And don’t imply that my heart is not with them. We are not like them, but we are tied to them by the strongest bond of all, for we are all, each every one, sickening with the same certainly fatal disease—we are alive.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Gulf

Gulf (pp. 556-557)
Short fiction, Off the Main Sequence (2005)

“… When I look back on my life's greatest traumas… I see that each one has something in common. No matter how life-shattering they felt at the time, there was an end to them.”

Anna Maxted (1969) British writer

Source: Getting Over It

“Really the best way to understand anything about dinosaurs is by looking at living animals. You look at birds and then look at the closest living ancestor of birds, which is the crocodile. If you look at characteristics that birds and crocodiles have in common, the explanation is that the trait was in the common ancestor that birds and crocodiles had at one time.”

Mark Norell (1957) American paleontologist

As quoted in "How Dinosaurs Loved: An Interview with Dr. Mark Norell on Dino Relations" http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/t-rexxx-how-dinosaurs-lived-loved-and-tasted-q-a-with-dr-mark-norell-american-museum-of-natural-history, Vice (March 20, 2012)

“Hey! What are you looking at? Don’t you see that it’s about you?”

Kodo Sawaki (1880–1965) Japanese zen Buddhist monk

Zen ni kike (To you) (Tokyo: Daihorinkaku, 1987)

“…when you're struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it's just as hard as what you're going through.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Savannah Lynn Curtis, Chapter 4, p. 71
Variant: ... when you're struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it's just as hard as what you're going through.
Source: 2000s, Dear John (2006)