Cryptogram
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Philosophy Cryptogram Puzzles — 179 to Decode

Philosophy is the deepest shelf here, and the oldest. Socrates and Confucius sit a few puzzles away from Voltaire, Shakespeare, Churchill and Einstein, and all of them are doing the same thing: trying to say something true about how to live inside a single sentence, and refusing to waste a word getting there.

That habit makes philosophy unusually good to decode. These lines run longer than most quotes in the corpus, and length is a gift in a substitution cipher — the more letters on the board, the faster the frequencies settle and the sooner the scaffolding words (the, that, which, nothing) give themselves up. The abstract vocabulary helps too: words like existence, understanding or virtue have distinctive shapes and repeated letters, and cracking one of them tends to unlock half the sentence at once.

What waits at the end is worth the work — a line that has survived a couple of thousand years of people repeating it. If a board looks daunting, start with an easier one; the shape of a philosophical sentence turns out to be remarkably regular once you have solved two or three.

Jane Austen

PhilosophyLiterature

23 words22 letters

Very Hard
Abraham Lincoln

Philosophy

12 words18 letters

Medium
Judy Garland

PhilosophyArt

11 words15 letters

Medium
Oscar Wilde

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

15 words17 letters

Medium
William Shakespeare

PhilosophyLiterature

17 words15 letters

Medium
Ann Landers

Philosophy

13 words19 letters

Hard
Winston Churchill

PhilosophyBusiness

14 words17 letters

Hard
Benjamin Franklin

PhilosophyBusiness

14 words19 letters

Hard
Socrates

PhilosophyHumor

23 words20 letters

Hard
Dalai Lama

Philosophy

16 words21 letters

Hard
Albert Einstein

SciencePhilosophy

12 words19 letters

Hard
Lao Tzu

Philosophy

10 words20 letters

Hard
Theodore Roosevelt

PhilosophyBusiness

11 words14 letters

Medium
Albert Einstein

SciencePhilosophy

12 words15 letters

Medium
John Lennon

PhilosophyMusic

10 words19 letters

Hard
Mae West

PhilosophyArtHumor

13 words17 letters

Medium
Mark Twain

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

11 words17 letters

Medium
Albert Einstein

SciencePhilosophy

11 words17 letters

Medium
Oscar Wilde

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

7 words16 letters

Medium
Albert Einstein

SciencePhilosophy

7 words16 letters

Medium
Muhammad Ali

PhilosophyBusiness

8 words13 letters

Medium
Confucius

Philosophy

8 words14 letters

Medium
Socrates

PhilosophyHumor

7 words18 letters

Medium
Robert H. Schuller

Philosophy

8 words17 letters

Medium
Bo Bennett

PhilosophyBusiness

11 words15 letters

Medium
Dalai Lama

Philosophy

8 words17 letters

Medium
Benjamin Franklin

PhilosophyBusiness

8 words19 letters

Medium
Dalai Lama

Philosophy

12 words18 letters

Hard
Socrates

PhilosophyHumor

10 words16 letters

Medium
Elbert Hubbard

PhilosophyLiterature

14 words17 letters

Medium
Booker T. Washington

Philosophy

11 words15 letters

Medium
Will Rogers

PhilosophyHumor

16 words18 letters

Hard
Confucius

Philosophy

11 words20 letters

Hard
Winston Churchill

PhilosophyBusiness

16 words14 letters

Medium
Theodore Roosevelt

PhilosophyBusiness

7 words17 letters

Medium
Sam Levenson

PhilosophyHumor

10 words15 letters

Medium
Theodore Roosevelt

PhilosophyBusiness

12 words15 letters

Medium
Mallory Hopkins

PhilosophyHumor

9 words15 letters

Medium
Anonymous

Philosophy

13 words19 letters

Hard
Mahatma Gandhi

Philosophy

8 words14 letters

Medium
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Philosophy

13 words18 letters

Hard
Zig Ziglar

PhilosophyLiteratureBusiness

19 words19 letters

Hard
Arthur Ashe

Philosophy

12 words14 letters

Medium
Will Rogers

PhilosophyHumor

9 words17 letters

Medium
David Goggins

Philosophy

9 words13 letters

Medium
C.S. Lewis

PhilosophyLiterature

15 words16 letters

Medium
Nelson Mandela

Philosophy

7 words15 letters

Medium
Ralph Waldo Emerson

PhilosophyLiterature

18 words19 letters

Hard
Buddha

Philosophy

9 words19 letters

Medium
Mark Twain

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

12 words15 letters

Medium
Winston Churchill

PhilosophyBusiness

7 words14 letters

Medium
Aristotle

Philosophy

9 words13 letters

Medium
Dr. Wayne Dyer

PhilosophyPsychology

8 words17 letters

Medium
Anonymous

Philosophy

5 words14 letters

Medium
Jerry Dunn

Philosophy

7 words16 letters

Medium
Walt Whitman

PhilosophyLiterature

13 words19 letters

Hard
William Shakespeare

PhilosophyLiterature

10 words12 letters

Medium
William Shakespeare

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words15 letters

Medium
William Shakespeare

PhilosophyLiterature

9 words15 letters

Medium
William Shakespeare

PhilosophyLiterature

6 words12 letters

Medium
William Shakespeare

PhilosophyLiterature

18 words20 letters

Hard
William Shakespeare

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words14 letters

Medium
Meditations on First Philosophy

SciencePhilosophy

5 words11 letters

Easy-Medium
Apophthegms

SciencePhilosophy

11 words15 letters

Medium
As You Like It

PhilosophyLiterature

17 words16 letters

Hard
Measure for Measure

PhilosophyLiterature

9 words18 letters

Medium
Blaise Pascal

SciencePhilosophy

10 words18 letters

Hard
John Milton

PhilosophyLiterature

10 words16 letters

Medium
Absalom and Achitophel

PhilosophyLiterature

15 words18 letters

Hard
Essays

SciencePhilosophy

10 words17 letters

Medium
Ecclesiastes

Philosophy

13 words18 letters

Hard
Isaiah

Philosophy

10 words16 letters

Medium
Edmund Burke

Philosophy

16 words19 letters

Hard
Victor Hugo

PhilosophyLiterature

9 words13 letters

Medium
Voltaire

PhilosophyLiterature

15 words19 letters

Hard
Voltaire

PhilosophyLiterature

11 words18 letters

Medium
Voltaire

PhilosophyLiterature

8 words13 letters

Medium
Voltaire

PhilosophyLiterature

7 words17 letters

Medium
Evelyn Beatrice Hall

PhilosophyLiterature

18 words19 letters

Hard
Jonathan Swift

PhilosophyLiterature

13 words16 letters

Medium
Jonathan Swift

PhilosophyArtLiterature

11 words15 letters

Medium
Jonathan Swift

PhilosophyLiterature

24 words21 letters

Very Hard
An Essay on Criticism

PhilosophyLiterature

8 words15 letters

Medium
Letters

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words19 letters

Hard
Joseph Addison

PhilosophyLiterature

11 words17 letters

Medium
Joseph Addison

PhilosophyLiterature

18 words18 letters

Hard
Joseph Addison

PhilosophyLiterature

13 words17 letters

Hard
The Crisis

PhilosophyLiterature

8 words13 letters

Medium
The Crisis

PhilosophyLiterature

9 words16 letters

Medium
Samuel Johnson

PhilosophyLiterature

18 words19 letters

Hard
Samuel Johnson

PhilosophyLiterature

16 words18 letters

Hard
Samuel Johnson

PhilosophyLiterature

15 words17 letters

Hard
The Sign of the Four

SciencePhilosophyLiterature

14 words18 letters

Hard
The Adventure of the Red Circle

SciencePhilosophyLiterature

16 words17 letters

Hard
Oscar Wilde

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

15 words17 letters

Hard
Oscar Wilde

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

21 words19 letters

Hard
Ernest Hemingway

PhilosophyLiterature

10 words14 letters

Medium
Wuthering Heights

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words16 letters

Medium
Jane Eyre

PhilosophyLiterature

19 words18 letters

Hard
Charles Dickens

PhilosophyLiterature

18 words15 letters

Hard
David Copperfield

PhilosophyLiterature

7 words16 letters

Medium
Hard Times

PhilosophyLiterature

13 words13 letters

Medium
Victor Hugo

PhilosophyLiterature

8 words17 letters

Medium
Les Miserables

PhilosophyLiterature

11 words15 letters

Medium
Les Miserables

PhilosophyLiterature

11 words14 letters

Medium
Mark Twain

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

14 words17 letters

Hard
Mark Twain

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

17 words20 letters

Hard
Mark Twain

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

10 words19 letters

Hard
Leonardo da Vinci

SciencePhilosophyArt

7 words15 letters

Medium
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Philosophy

10 words15 letters

Medium
George Eliot

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words17 letters

Medium
The Fellowship of the Ring

PhilosophyLiterature

7 words11 letters

Easy-Medium
The Fellowship of the Ring

PhilosophyLiterature

16 words16 letters

Medium
Martin Luther King Jr.

Philosophy

18 words16 letters

Hard
The Importance of Being Earnest

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

8 words15 letters

Medium
The Road Not Taken

PhilosophyLiterature

14 words18 letters

Hard
Mother Night

PhilosophyLiterature

18 words17 letters

Hard
A Farewell to Arms

PhilosophyLiterature

13 words20 letters

Hard
The Phantom Tollbooth

PhilosophyLiterature

14 words20 letters

Hard
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

SciencePhilosophyLiterature

6 words13 letters

Medium
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

PhilosophyLiterature

15 words17 letters

Hard
To Kill a Mockingbird

PhilosophyLiterature

22 words20 letters

Hard
Alice in Wonderland

PhilosophyLiterature

14 words19 letters

Hard
Tuck Everlasting

PhilosophyLiterature

11 words16 letters

Medium
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words15 letters

Medium
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

SciencePhilosophyLiteratureHumor

14 words19 letters

Hard
Marthe Troly-Curtin

PhilosophyLiterature

8 words14 letters

Medium
Albert Einstein

SciencePhilosophy

6 words16 letters

Medium
Mahatma Gandhi

Philosophy

12 words18 letters

Medium
Into the Wild

PhilosophyLiterature

6 words13 letters

Medium
1984

PhilosophyLiterature

9 words19 letters

Medium
Requiem for a Nun

PhilosophyLiterature

9 words12 letters

Medium
Mark Twain

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

13 words18 letters

Hard
Animal Farm

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words14 letters

Medium
Frank Zappa

PhilosophyMusic

9 words19 letters

Hard
Peter York

Philosophy

10 words18 letters

Medium
B.B. King

PhilosophyMusic

15 words19 letters

Hard
John Lennon

PhilosophyMusic

12 words19 letters

Hard
Nature Boy

PhilosophyMusic

15 words17 letters

Hard
Albert Einstein

SciencePhilosophyHumor

16 words19 letters

Hard
Albert Einstein

SciencePhilosophy

15 words19 letters

Hard
Carl Sagan

SciencePhilosophy

10 words15 letters

Medium
Stephen Hawking

SciencePhilosophy

10 words17 letters

Medium
Kurt Cobain

PhilosophyMusic

15 words15 letters

Medium
Tony Robbins

PhilosophyBusiness

10 words17 letters

Medium
Anonymous

PhilosophyBusiness

16 words18 letters

Hard
Vernon Law

Philosophy

14 words20 letters

Hard
Chinese Proverb

Philosophy

17 words18 letters

Hard
Eleanor Roosevelt

Philosophy

12 words16 letters

Hard
Henry David Thoreau

PhilosophyLiterature

14 words18 letters

Hard
Booker T. Washington

PhilosophyBusiness

22 words22 letters

Very Hard
Ancient Indian Proverb

Philosophy

13 words16 letters

Medium
Plato

Philosophy

25 words19 letters

Hard
Japanese Proverb

Philosophy

7 words15 letters

Medium
Helen Keller

Philosophy

31 words19 letters

Hard
Confucius

Philosophy

8 words15 letters

Medium
Lao Tzu

Philosophy

14 words14 letters

Medium
Charles Swindoll

Philosophy

15 words16 letters

Medium
Chinese Proverb

Philosophy

17 words18 letters

Hard
Stephen Covey

PhilosophyBusiness

15 words15 letters

Medium
Christopher Columbus

Philosophy

17 words16 letters

Hard
Michael Jordan

PhilosophyBusiness

17 words19 letters

Hard
Jesse Owens

Philosophy

27 words20 letters

Very Hard
Sir Claus Moser

PhilosophyBusiness

8 words16 letters

Medium
Paulo Coelho

PhilosophyLiterature

15 words18 letters

Hard
Mark Twain

PhilosophyLiteratureHumor

43 words22 letters

Very Hard
Bob Dylan

PhilosophyMusic

29 words19 letters

Hard
Muhammad Ali

PhilosophyBusiness

13 words16 letters

Hard
Oprah Winfrey

PhilosophyArtBusiness

27 words19 letters

Hard
Muhammad Ali

PhilosophyBusiness

15 words16 letters

Hard
Thomas Jefferson

Philosophy

19 words19 letters

Hard
Winston Churchill

PhilosophyBusiness

12 words17 letters

Hard
Herman Melville

PhilosophyLiterature

12 words18 letters

Hard
Jim Ryun

PhilosophyBusiness

12 words19 letters

Hard
C.S. Lewis

PhilosophyLiterature

19 words17 letters

Hard
Robert Louis Stevenson

PhilosophyLiterature

16 words18 letters

Hard
Winston Churchill

PhilosophyBusiness

14 words17 letters

Hard
Anonymous

PhilosophyBusiness

18 words18 letters

Hard
Attributed to Carl Jung

PsychologyPhilosophy

14 words19 letters

Hard
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