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Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

— Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.

Original text (German)

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About what one can not speak, one must remain silent.

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Silence

More quotes by Ludwig Wittgenstein

Don't for heaven's sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense.

Culture and Value (1980)

Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.

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Man has to awaken to wonder — and so perhaps do peoples. Science is a way of sending him to sleep again.

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It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.

The way you use the word "God" does not show whom you mean — but, rather, what you mean.

Culture and Value (1980)

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To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox New Thought Pastels (1913)

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.

George Eliot

There are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence.

Benedict of Nursia

I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise?

Federico Fellini I'm a Born Liar (2003)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ludwig Wittgenstein (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.