Quotes from Karl Sigmund

Where is the invisible hand? "It is often invisible because it is not here," according to economist Joseph Stiglitz.

To make matters even worse, Schlick had the cheek to write an essay called "The Meaning of Life." He even gave a simple answer to the question. The meaning of life does not reside in a higher purpose, but can be expressed in just one word, said Moritz Schlick: "The meaning of life is youth.

And this led Schlick to formulate a succinct moral principle: "Sei glücksbereit! " or, rendered literally in English, "Be ready for happiness!" The spirit of the remark, however, is perhaps more accurately caught by the less compact phrase "Always be ready to give happiness a chance!

Morality, Schlick was convinced, is not tied to self-denial: "It does not come dressed in a nun's habit." Quite the contrary: "Moral behavior springs from pleasure and pain; if one acts nobly, it is because one enjoys doing so…. Values are not dictated from above, but lie within; it is human nature to be good.

Although he was barely four years older than Gödel, Menger had become a sort of mentor to Gödel, and an almost fatherly friend. When he returned to Vienna, he and Gödel slowly drifted away from the Vienna Circle. To their taste, it had taken on too much of the flavor of Wittgenstein and of Neurath; there was too much of a cult about the former, and too much politics in the latter.