Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes

God gave humans language so they could conceal their thoughts from one another.

Language disguises thought.

Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts.

All words are masks and the lovelier they are, the more they are meant to conceal.

It is not humanly possible to gather immediately from it what the logic of language is. Language disguises thought.

Language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

But behavior in the human being is sometimes a defense, a way of concealing motives and thoughts, as language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.

Flat or uninteresting writing often signals something deeper that is being covered up.

Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message.

First think of the person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, The middle of middle and the end of end? And finally give me the sound often heard During the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?

Clothes are but a symbol of something hid deep beneath.

I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag.

Through tattered clothes great vices do appear; Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks. Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.

The pronoun is one of the most terrifying masks man has invented.

Language can be very adept at hiding the truth.

Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He's weak... he's unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race.

This was, I would later realise, a planet of things wrapped inside things. Food inside wrappers. Bodies inside clothes. Contempt inside smiles. Everything was hidden away.

Hide the ideas, but so that people find them. The most important will be the most hidden.

The language that reveals also obscures.

Through tattered clothes, small vices do appear. Robes and furred gowns hide all.

Who... who are you?' I asked at last. It was true. I had left a body in the park, but seriously, what was I supposed to do? Drag him back to my hotel and tell my bellhop my friend had had too much to drink?

Between thought and spoken word is a gap where intention can enter, the symbol be twisted aside, and the lie come to be.

...In another time, What cannot be seen will define us, and we shall be prompted To say that language is error, and all things are wronged By representation. The self, we shall say, can never be Seen with a disguise, and never be seen without one.

All language is but a poor translation.