569 Quotes by Ludwig Wittgenstein

A mathematical proof must be perspicuous.

Not only is there no guarantee of the temporal immortality of the human soul, that is to say of its eternal survival after death; but, in any case, this assumption completely fails to accomplish the purpose for which it has always been intended. Or is some riddle solved by my surviving forever? Is not this eternal life itself as much of a riddle as our present life?

How hard I find it to see what is right in front of my eyes!

Our ordinary language has no means for describing a particular shade of color. Thus it is incapable of producing a picture of this color.

One can defend common sense against the attacks of philosophers only by solving their puzzles, i.e., by curing them of the temptation to attack common sense....

To understand a sentence means to understand a language. To understand a language means to be master of a technique.

Philosophy just puts everything before us, and neither explains nor deduces anything.-Since everything lies open to view there is nothing to explain

The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thought.

Where does our investigation get its importance from, since it seems only to destroy everything interesting, that is, all that is great and important? (As it were all the buildings, leaving behind only bits of stone and rubble.) What we are destroying is nothing but houses of cards and we are clearing up the ground of language on which they stand.