What can be shown cannot be said.

Quote of the Week 25

“What can be shown cannot be said.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein 

Triggered by Hartmut Esslinger's comment on Apple's "Liquid Glass" UI.

From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Wittgenstein does not, however, relegate all that is not inside the bounds of sense to oblivion. He makes a distinction between saying and showing which is made to do additional crucial work. “What can be shown cannot be said,” that is, what cannot be formulated in sayable (sensical) propositions can only be shown. This applies, for example, to the logical form of the world, the pictorial form, etc., which show themselves in the form of (contingent) propositions, in the symbolism, and in logical propositions. Even the unsayable (metaphysical, ethical, aesthetic) propositions of philosophy belong in this group—which Wittgenstein finally describes as “things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical”.

“Was gezeigt werden kann, kann nicht gesagt werden.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein