The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Limits of language15 quotes
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1921Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. — Victor Hugo · 1864If you could say it in words, there'd be no reason to paint. — Edward Hopper · 1956Words 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 · 1936Don'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 · 1949Human 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 · 1856All 15 quotes →Language4 quotes
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1921Human 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 · 1856The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1922An idea does not pass from one language to another without change. — Miguel de Unamuno · 1913Meaning of words2 quotes
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 · 1936No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. — Henry Adams · 1907Communication1 quote
Never pain to tell thy love
Love that never told can be
For the gentle wind does move
Silently invisibly — William Blake · 1807Honesty1 quote
No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. — Henry Adams · 1907Knowledge1 quote
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 · 1922Love1 quote
Never pain to tell thy love
Love that never told can be
For the gentle wind does move
Silently invisibly — William Blake · 1807Music1 quote
It is only that which cannot be expressed otherwise that is worth expressing in music. — Frederick Delius · 1920Nature of reality1 quote
Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity. — Hermann Hesse · 1922Power of music1 quote
It is only that which cannot be expressed otherwise that is worth expressing in music. — Frederick Delius · 1920Purpose of art1 quote
If you could say it in words, there'd be no reason to paint. — Edward Hopper · 1956The Holocaust1 quote
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 · 1945Totalitarianism1 quote
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 · 1949Translation1 quote
An idea does not pass from one language to another without change. — Miguel de Unamuno · 1913Wisdom1 quote
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 · 1922Words1 quote
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 · 1936