WIST Quotations

Wittgenstein, Ludwig -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
(Attributed)

Wittgenstein, Ludwig -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If there were a verb meaning ‘to believe falsely,’ it would not have any significant first person, present indicative.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
(Attributed)

Wittgenstein, Ludwig -- Culture and Value, 1940 (1977) [tr. Winch (1980)]

Dave — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 12:06:58 +0000

If this stone won’t budge at present and is wedged in, move some of the other stones around it first.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
Culture and Value, 1940 (1977) [tr. Winch (1980)]

Wittgenstein, Ludwig -- Culture and Value, 1946 (1977) [tr. Winch (1980)]

Dave — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 22:27:31 +0000

If life becomes hard to bear we think of a change in our circumstances. But the most important and effective change, a change in our own attitude, hardly even occurs to us, and the resolution to take such a step is very difficult for us.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
Culture and Value, 1946 (1977) [tr. Winch (1980)]
(Source)

Wittgenstein, Ludwig -- On Certainty, Para. 115 (1969) [tr. Paul & Anscombe]

Dave — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:41:29 +0000

If you tried to doubt everything you would not get as far as doubting anything. The game of doubting itself presupposes certainty.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
On Certainty, Para. 115 (1969) [tr. Paul & Anscombe]

Wittgenstein, Ludwig -- Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 5.6 (1921)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 5.6 (1921)

Alt. trans:

"The boundary of my language is the boundary of my world." [tr. Kolak]
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." [tr. Pears and McGuinness]
"The limits of my language stand for the limits of my world."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig -- Quoted in Norman Malcolm, Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir (1958)

Dave — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 00:03:47 +0000

A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
Quoted in Norman Malcolm, Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir (1958)
(Source)

This is usually presented as a direct quotation, but is perhaps a paraphrase. The full passage from Malcolm:

It is worth noting that Wittgenstein once said that a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist entirely of jokes (without being facetious).