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I’ve once met a German saying that I wholeheartedly adopted, “blessed be those who have nothing to say, and nevertheless remain silent”. (Don’t remember the Ge

I’ve once met a German saying that I wholeheartedly adopted, “blessed be those who have nothing to say, and nevertheless remain silent”. (Don’t remember the German original - I don’t speak German) There’s also a more philosophical take from Wittgenstein IIRc.

bhritchie 8y ago
"Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen." (That's the Wittgenstein, not the German saying.)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- tomjakubowski 8y ago
  Das ist die ganze Eleganz dem Wittgenstein, wer bin ich kein.
kasbah 8y ago
I searched and found "Gesegnet seien jene, die nichts zu sagen haben und den Mund halten!" which is the desired quotation but it's attributed to Oscar Wilde [1] so probably originally English since Oscar Wilde is also quoted to have said "Life is too short to learn German" (though he did learn German according to Wikipedia). [1] https://www.gutzitiert.de/zitat_autor_oscar_wilde_1481.html https://www.gutzitiert.de/zitat_autor_oscar_wilde_1481.html
- beagle3 8y ago
  Googling this version (with a couple of words I remembered), brought me to a page with the version I heard before but it does not seem to be sourced: Selig sind die, die nichts zu sagen haben und trotzdem schweigen (And google also found something I assume is a singular version: "zu sagen hat und trotzdem schwiegt") [0] http://events-stg.clasadvising.arizona.edu/nichts-zu-sagen-zitat.html http://events-stg.clasadvising.arizona.edu/nichts-zu-sagen-z... , last paragraph at the time I looked.
- codr7 8y ago
  Tell me about it. I've lived here for three years, with a native speaking partner; but it's just not happening much. Before that I spent three years in school studying German, all gone. I don't like the language very much, I guess that could be part of the difficulty. It's just too damn complicated, the same way C++ is complicated.
  - bArray 8y ago
    > I don't like the language very much, I guess that could be part of the difficulty. It's just too damn complicated, the same way C++ is complicated. Interesting comparison. I find computer languages incredibly easy to pickup. Human languages on the other hand have been much more difficult. I only speak English and sometimes even then my words come out in the wrong order or I forget words entirely (+). (+) I once forgot the word "and" - as a result I struggled for a day to speak/write many complex sentences.

bhritchie 8y ago

"Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen." (That's the Wittgenstein, not the German saying.)

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
tomjakubowski 8y ago
Das ist die ganze Eleganz dem Wittgenstein, wer bin ich kein.

kasbah 8y ago

I searched and found "Gesegnet seien jene, die nichts zu sagen haben und den Mund halten!" which is the desired quotation but it's attributed to Oscar Wilde [1] so probably originally English since Oscar Wilde is also quoted to have said "Life is too short to learn German" (though he did learn German according to Wikipedia). [1] https://www.gutzitiert.de/zitat_autor_oscar_wilde_1481.html https://www.gutzitiert.de/zitat_autor_oscar_wilde_1481.html

beagle3 8y ago
Googling this version (with a couple of words I remembered), brought me to a page with the version I heard before but it does not seem to be sourced: Selig sind die, die nichts zu sagen haben und trotzdem schweigen (And google also found something I assume is a singular version: "zu sagen hat und trotzdem schwiegt") [0] http://events-stg.clasadvising.arizona.edu/nichts-zu-sagen-zitat.html http://events-stg.clasadvising.arizona.edu/nichts-zu-sagen-z... , last paragraph at the time I looked.
codr7 8y ago
Tell me about it. I've lived here for three years, with a native speaking partner; but it's just not happening much. Before that I spent three years in school studying German, all gone. I don't like the language very much, I guess that could be part of the difficulty. It's just too damn complicated, the same way C++ is complicated.
- bArray 8y ago
  > I don't like the language very much, I guess that could be part of the difficulty. It's just too damn complicated, the same way C++ is complicated. Interesting comparison. I find computer languages incredibly easy to pickup. Human languages on the other hand have been much more difficult. I only speak English and sometimes even then my words come out in the wrong order or I forget words entirely (+). (+) I once forgot the word "and" - as a result I struggled for a day to speak/write many complex sentences.