Limits of language

Explore 15 quotes about Limits of language

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

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Topic

Limits of language Language

Author

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. "Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung [Logical-Philosophical Treatise]." Annalen der Naturphilosophie [Annales of Natural Philosophy], 1921.

Current Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, translated by Michael Beaney. Oxford University Press, 2023.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo

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Topic

Limits of language

Author

Victor Hugo

Source

William Shakespeare

Language

French

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hugo, Victor. William Shakespeare. Paris: Lacroix & Verboeckhoven & Cie, 1864, pt. 1, bk. 2, ch. 4.

If you could say it in words, there'd be no reason to paint.

Edward Hopper

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Topic

Purpose of art Limits of language

Author

Edward Hopper

Source

Time

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hopper, Edward. "Art: The Silent Witness.” Time Magazine, 24 Dec. 1956.

Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.

T.S. Eliot

Burnt Norton

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Topic

Meaning of words Words Limits of language

Author

T.S. Eliot

Source

Burnt Norton Four Quartets

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Eliot, T. S. “Burnt Norton.” Collected Poems 1909–1935. Harcourt, Brace And Company, 1936, pt. 5.

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Topic

Limits of language Language

Author

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. "Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung [Logical-Philosophical Treatise]." Annalen der Naturphilosophie [Annales of Natural Philosophy], 1921.

Current Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, translated by Michael Beaney. Oxford University Press, 2023.

Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary

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Topic

Limits of language Language

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Madame Bovary

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1856 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary: Moeurs de Province [Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners]. Revue de Paris, 1 Oct. 1856 - 15 Dec. 1856. Serial.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary, edited and translated by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classics, 2011, pt. 2, ch. 12.

Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.

George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Topic

Totalitarianism Limits of language

Speaker

Syme

Author

George Orwell

Source

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1949 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker & Warburg, 1949, pt. 1, ch. 5.

Never pain to tell thy love
Love that never told can be
For the gentle wind does move
Silently invisibly

William Blake

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Topic

Limits of language Communication Love

Author

William Blake

Source

Never Seek to Tell Thy Love

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1807 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Blake, William. Poem written in his notebook. c. 1792.

Current Citation

Blake, William. "Never Pain to Tell Thy Love." William Blake: Selected Poems, edited by Nicholas Shrimpton. Oxford University Press, 2019.

I sometimes hold it half a sin
To put in words the grief I feel;
For words, like Nature, half reveal
And half conceal the Soul within.

Alfred Tennyson

In Memoriam A.H.H.

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Topic

Limits of language

Author

Alfred Tennyson

Source

In Memoriam A.H.H.

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. In Memoriam A.H.H. London: Edward Moxon, 1850, pt. 4, st. 5.

Current Citation

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "In Memoriam A.H.H." Alfred Tennyson: The Major Works, edited by Adam Roberts. Oxford University Press, 2009 pt. 4, st. 5.

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

Henry Adams

The Education of Henry Adams

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Topic

Honesty Meaning of words Limits of language

Author

Henry Adams

Source

The Education of Henry Adams

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1907 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, Henry. The Education of Henry Adams. 1907, ch. 31.

Current Citation

Adams, Henry. "The Education of Henry Adams." Henry Adams: Democracy, Esther, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres, The Education of Henry Adams, edited by Ernest Samuels and Jayne Samuels. Library of America, 1983, ch. 31.

An idea does not pass from one language to another without change.

Miguel de Unamuno

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Topic

Translation Limits of language Language

Author

Miguel de Unamuno

Source

The Tragic Sense of Life

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1913 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

De Unamuno, Miguel. The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and in Peoples, translated by J. E. Crawford Flitch. Macmillan and Company, 1921, preface.

I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it I have no words.

Edward R. Murrow

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Topic

The Holocaust Limits of language

Speaker

Edward R. Murrow

Medium

Radio broadcast

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Murrow, Edward R. Broadcast report on Buchenwald concentration camp. 15 Apr. 1945, London, England, UK. Radio broadcast.

It is only that which cannot be expressed otherwise that is worth expressing in music.

Frederick Delius

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Topic

Limits of language Power of music Music

Author

Frederick Delius

Source

At the Cross-Roads The Sackbut

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Delius. "At the Cross-Roads." The Sackbut, Sept. 1920.

Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity.

Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha

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Topic

Limits of language Nature of reality

Speaker

Siddhartha

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Siddhartha

Medium

Novel

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha: Eine Indische Dichtung [Siddhartha: An Indian Poetry]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1922.

Current Citation

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha, translated by Joachim Neugroschel. Penguin Classics, 2002.

Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom.

Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha

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Topic

Wisdom Knowledge Limits of language

Speaker

Siddhartha

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Siddhartha

Medium

Novel

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha: Eine Indische Dichtung [Siddhartha: An Indian Poetry]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1922.

Current Citation

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha, translated by Joachim Neugroschel. Penguin Classics, 2002.