“If anyone is unwilling to descend into himself, because this is too painful, he will remain superficial in his writing. . . If I perform to myself, then it’s this that the style expresses. And then the style cannot be my own. If you are unwilling to know what you are, your writing is a form of deceit.”

“I should not like my writing to spare other people the trouble of thinking. But, if possible, to stimulate someone to thoughts of his own.”

“For an answer which cannot be expressed the question too cannot be expressed.The riddle does not exist.If a question can be put at all, then it can also be answered.”

“Language disguises the thought; so that from the external form of the clothes one cannot infer the form of the thought they clothe, because the external form of the clothes is constructed with quite another object than to let the form of the body be recognized.”

“When you are philosophizing you have to descend into primeval chaos and feel at home there.”

“Perhaps what is inexpressible (what I find mysterious and am not able to express) is the background against which whatever I could express has its meaning.”

“Philosophy, as we use the word, is a fight against the fascination which forms of expression exert upon us.”