If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
Man has to awaken to wonder - and so perhaps do peoples. Science is a way of sending him to sleep again.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that wonder and curiosity are essential for human experience, but science can also lead us to lose that sense of wonder.
Ludwig Wittgenstein emphasizes the importance of awakening to a sense of wonder about the world, arguing that this awakening is not only essential for individuals but also for societies. He warns, however, that science—while valuable—can sometimes dull our sense of amazement and replace it with mere factual knowledge, leading to a form of intellectual sleepiness where we lose sight of the awe that originally inspires inquiry.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of creativity in education.
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 men are not equal: thus speaks justice.
As animals, we walk the earth. As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars. As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox of how to make our way upon earth while striving for something more permanent and more profound.
No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.
Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn.
Look... we're getting to be old men, and we've spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another's systems. I can see through Eastern values just as you can see through our Western ones. Both of us, I am sure, have experienced ad nauseam the technical satisfactions of this wretched war. But now your own side is going to shoot you. Don't you think it's time to recognise that there is as little worth on your side as there is on mine?
To be silent when we are impelled to utter words injurious to God or to our neighbour, is an act of virtue; but, to be silent in confessing our sins, is the ruin of the soul.
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