In this article I hazard a hypothesis regarding the common origins of discourse, images, and concepts, based on the confrontation of two very dissimilar texts, one from a novel by Beckett (Watt), the other from one of Plato’s dialogues (Philebus). This hypothesis provides an explanation for the great diversity of Beckett’s texts; but it also leads to considering the process of thought itself somewhat differently, at any rate where one considers the thought that presents itself in philosophical writing.