If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a struggle with understanding and intelligence amidst feelings of depression.
In this quote, Ludwig Wittgenstein expresses a profound sense of frustration and despair regarding his mental clarity and intelligence. He describes the banality of his daily activities juxtaposed with a deep yearning for greater understanding, suggesting that without such insight, life feels burdensome. The longing for intelligence is not only a wish for clarity but also intertwined with a feeling of hopelessness, revealing a deeply introspective view on existence and the human condition.
Themes
DepressionIntelligenceUnderstandingExistencePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about mental health challenges, this quote can highlight the struggle between seeking knowledge and dealing with depression.
More from Ludwig Wittgenstein
All quotes →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.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
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.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
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?
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden; he says again and again 'I know that that’s a tree', pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell him: 'This fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
Similar quotes
There really is no such thing as a sick child; there are children who happen to be sick. Think about it, and you will understand the magic of the Camps
Paul NewmanRead
Thou hast a voice, great Mountain, to repeal. Large codes of fraud and woe; not understood by all, but which the wise, and great, and good interpret, or make felt, or deeply feel.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence.
Abraham LincolnRead
In every human Beast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.
Phillis WheatleyRead
Spiritual life can certainly follow the pattern one sees in the fake martial arts, with most teachers making nebulous and magical claims that never get tested, while their students derange themselves with weird ideas, empty rituals, and other affectations.
Sam HarrisRead
Man is not a machine that can be remodelled for quite other purposes as occasion demands, in the hope that it will go on functioning as regularly as before but in a quite different way. He carries his whole history with him; in his very structure is written the history of mankind.
Carl JungRead