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Thinker · 16 quotes

Ludwig Wittgenstein quotes for UPSC

16 sourced quotes by Ludwig Wittgenstein on courage, mind & self-awareness, governance & administration, ethics & morality, integrity & honesty, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.

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Certainly it is correct to say: Conscience is the voice of God.
Use itGS4 on conscience as a source of ethical guidance; inner voice in dilemmas.
You can't be reluctant to give up your lie and still tell the truth.
Use itGS4: truthfulness needs willingness to abandon one's own falsehoods; on owning mistakes.
Courage, not cleverness; not even inspiration, is the grain of mustard that grows up to be a great tree.
Use itEssay: courage, not cleverness, grows into greatness—on moral courage over intellect.
You could attach prices to thoughts. Some cost a lot, some a little. And how does one pay for thoughts? The answer, I think, is: with courage.
Use itEssay on original thinking; valuable ideas are paid for with courage.
One of the most difficult of the philosopher's tasks is to find out where the shoe pinches.
Use itGS2: good administration first identifies where exactly the problem pinches.
Don't get involved in partial problems, but always take flight to where there is a free view over the whole single great problem, even if this view is still not a clear one.
— Ludwig WittgensteinJournal entry (1 November 1914)
Use itGS2: avoid piecemeal fixes; take a holistic, systemic view of problems.
To convince someone of the truth, it is not enough to state it, but rather one must find the path from error to truth.
— Ludwig WittgensteinCh. 7: Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough, p. 119
Use itGS4 on persuasion; stating truth isn't enough—guide people from misinformation to truth.
A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push it.
Use itLife: often we are trapped only by our mindset; the door was open all along.
If life becomes hard to bear we think of a change in our circumstances. But the most important and effective change, a change in our own attitude, hardly even occurs to us, and the resolution to take such a step is very difficult for us.
Use itLife: when life is hard, change your attitude before blaming circumstances.

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