If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
There are, indeed, things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical.
Interpretation
Some experiences or truths cannot be fully expressed in language and are understood on a deeper, often mystical level.
In this quote, Ludwig Wittgenstein reflects on the limitations of language when it comes to conveying the full depth of certain profound experiences. He suggests that there are aspects of existence, particularly those that are mystical or transcendental, that are beyond verbal expression and must instead be felt or intuitively understood.
In practice
In a discussion about the limits of language in expressing emotions, this quote can remind us of the power of unspoken feelings.
If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
One cannot guess how a word functions. One has to look at its use and learn from that. But the difficulty is to remove the prejudice which stands in the way of doing this. It is not a stupid prejudice.
No one likes having offended another person; hence everyone feels so much better if the other person doesn't show he's been offended. Nobody likes being confronted by a wounded spaniel. Remember that. It is much easier patiently - and tolerantly - to avoid the person you have injured than to approach him as a friend. You need courage for that.
It's impossible for me to say one word about all that music has meant to me in my life. How, then, can I hope to be understood?
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.
My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed. I wish to God that I were more intelligent and everything would finally become clear to me - or else that I needn't live much longer.
For three million years we were hunter-gatherers, and it was through the evolutionary pressures of that way of life that a brain so adaptable and so creative eventually emerged. Today we stand with the brains of hunter-gatherers in our heads, looking out on a modern world made comfortable for some by the fruits of human inventiveness, and made miserable for others by the scandal of deprivation in the midst of plenty.
For a moment the feeling crept over me that my work, my vision, is going to destroy me, and for a fleeting moment I let myself take a long, hard look at myself, something I would not otherwise do--out of instinct, on principle, out of self-preservation--look at myself with objective curiosity to see whether my vision has not destroyed me already. I found it comforting to note that I was still breathing.
Most of what we know about human life we know from asking people to remember the past, and as we know, hindsight is anything but 20/20. We forget vast amounts of what happens to us in life, and sometimes memory is downright creative.
To be religious is to have one's attention fixed on God and on one's neighbour in relation to God.
The feelings of my smallness and my nothingness always kept me good company.
I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy, To share with me in glory any more: Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere.
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