I wish to propose for the reader's favourable consideration a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The desire to understand the world and the desire to reform it are the two great engines of progress. I disbelieve this, absolutely and entirely. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Logic is the hygiene the mathematician practices to keep his ideas healthy and strong.
Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts.
Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in 'philosophical propositions', but rather in the clarification of propositions. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in just the way in which our visual field has no limits.