Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951)
Austrian-born philosopher who spent much of his life in England.
If you do know that here is one hand, we'll grant you all the rest.
If the true is what is grounded, then the ground is not true, nor yet false.
Does man think because he has found that thinking pays?
Does he bring his children up because he has found it pays?
The whole sense of the book might be summed up the following words: what can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.
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.
The way you use the word "God" does not show whom you mean — but, rather, what you mean.
The idea that in order to get clear about the meaning of a general term one had to find the common element in all its applications has shackled philosophical investigation; for it has not only led to no result, but also made the philosopher dismiss as irrelevant the concrete cases, which alone could have helped him understand the usage of the general term.
Ambition is the death of thought.
If I cannot say a priori what elementary propositions there are, then the attempt to do so must lead to obvious nonsense. (5.5571)
The difficulty in philosophy is to say no more than we know.
Reading the Socratic dialogues one has the feeling: what a frightful waste of time! What's the point of these arguments that prove nothing and clarify nothing?
A confession has to be part of your new life.
W. is very excitable: he has more passion about philosophy than I have; his avalanches make mine seem mere snowballs. He has the pure intellectual passion in the highest degree; it makes me love him. His disposition is that of an artist, intuitive and moody. He says every morning he begins his work with hope, and every evening he ends in despair — he has just the sort of rage when he can't understand things as I have.
People are deeply imbedded in philosophical, i.e., grammatical confusions. And to free them presupposes pulling them out of the immensely manifold connections they are caught up in.
A religious symbol does not rest on any opinion. And error belongs only with opinion. One would like to say: This is what took place here; laugh, if you can.
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.
A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.
Your questions refer to words; so I have to talk about words.
You say : The point isn't the word, but its meaning, and you think of the meaning as a thing of the same kind as the word, though also different from the word. Here the word, there the meaning.
Philosophy may in no way interfere with the actual use of language; it can in the end only describe it.
You could attach prices to ideas. Some cost a lot some little. ... And how do you pay for ideas? I believe: with courage.