A wheel that can be turned ...

A wheel that can be turned though nothing else moves with it, is not a part of the mechanism.
A wheel that can be turned though nothing else moves with it, is not a part of the mechanism.
 Ludwig Wittgenstein

More phrases

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.
We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Quotes from the same author

If God had looked into our minds he would not have been able to see there whom we were speaking of.
 Ludwig Wittgenstein
The aim of the book is to set a limit to thought, or rather - not to thought, but to the expression of thoughts: for in order to be able to set a limit to thought, we should have to find both sides of the limit thinkable (i.e. we should have to be able to think what cannot be thought). It will therefore only be in language that the limit can be set, and what lies on the other side of the limit will simply be nonsense.
 Ludwig Wittgenstein
Almost in the same way as earlier physicists are said to have found suddenly that they had too little mathematical understanding to be able to master physics; we may say that young people today are suddenly in the position that ordinary common sense no longer suffices to meet the strange demands life makes. Everything has become so intricate that for its mastery an exceptional degree of understanding is required. For it is not enough any longer to be able to play the game well; but the question is again and again: what sort of game is to be played now anyway?
 Ludwig Wittgenstein
In order to be able to set a limit to thought, we should have to find both sides of the limit thinkable (i.e. we should have to be able to think what cannot be thought).
 Ludwig Wittgenstein
Telling someone something he does not understand is pointless, even if you add that he will not be able to understand it.
 Ludwig Wittgenstein