Portrait of Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Philosophy of language

Modern influential 104 sayings

Sayings by Ludwig Wittgenstein

The meaning of a word is its use in the language.

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
Wisdom Unverifiable

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

1921 — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Wisdom Confirmed

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

1921 — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Wisdom Unverifiable

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.

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
Wisdom Unverifiable

The philosophical problem is not a problem about the world, but a problem about our concepts.

1966 (published posthumously) — Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology and Religious Belief
Wisdom Unverifiable

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
War & Conflict Unverifiable

The world is all that is the case.

1921 — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Wisdom Unverifiable

What is your aim in philosophy? To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
Wisdom Unverifiable

A good simile refreshes the intellect.

1977 (published posthumously) — Culture and Value
Educational Unverifiable

The solution of the problem of life is seen in the vanishing of the problem.

1921 — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Wisdom Unverifiable

The world of the happy man is a different one from that of the unhappy man.

1921 — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Wisdom Unverifiable

An honest confession is good for the soul, but bad for the reputation.

1977 (published posthumously) — Culture and Value
Biblical Unverifiable

The philosopher's treatment of a question is like the treatment of an illness.

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
Wisdom Unverifiable

To convince someone of the truth, it is not enough to state it, but rather one must find the path from error to truth.

1956 (published posthumously) — Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
Biblical Unverifiable

What is essential is that the picture of the world in which the problem is embedded should change.

1969 (published posthumously) — On Certainty
Wisdom Unverifiable

The real discovery is the one that makes me capable of stopping doing philosophy when I want to.

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
Educational Unverifiable

Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement.

1969 (published posthumously) — On Certainty
Educational Unverifiable

Don't think, but look!

1953 (published posthumously) — Philosophical Investigations
Wisdom Unverifiable

If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.

Approx. 1930s-1940s — Attributed, often cited in discussions of linguistic relativism
Wisdom Unverifiable
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