Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes

Symbols are the imaginative signposts of life.

My use of language is part and parcel of my message.

Something's that written out is okay, but it's not always a clear indication of what a person means.

Words are things, but things which mean. We cannot do away with meaning without doing away with signs, that is, with language itself. Moreover, we would have to do away with the universe. All the things man touches are impregnated with meaning.

Words are mere shadows cast by ideas. But the ideas they represent are real.

It’s not what you say; it’s what people hear.

Symbols are important.

A picture can say a thousand words but maybe not the correct ones.

one does not only wish to be understood when one writes; one wishes just as surely not to be understood.

Well, usually when a person shakes their head," said McGonagall coldly, "they mean 'no.' So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign language as yet unknown to humans.

One of the hardest things in the world is to convey a meaning accurately from one mind to another.

Nature speaks in symbols and in signs.

Symbols are nothing but the natural speech of drama.

You don't need to be told some things. You can sometimes tell more by a man's silence and the set of his head than by what he says.

People like to say, 'What do you mean exactly?' I would answer, 'I mean, but not exactly.'

Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning.

A lot of people understand what not saying anything means, so, in effect, not saying anything is really saying a lot.

We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.

The communication is in the work and words are no substitute for this.

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.

To define a thing is to substitute the definition for the thing itself.

Words are but the signs of ideas.

Paper and ink are all but trash, if I cannot find the thought which the writer did think.

It's a difficult competition against silence, because silence is a perfect language, the only language which says with no words.

It is really hard to completely re-learn how to express yourself without using words. When you take away speech, you have to re-invent the way you express yourself. You have to exaggerate your body language and your facial expressions.