THEORY QUOTES III

quotations about theory and theories

Some theories are good for nothing except to be argued about.

G. C. LICHTENBERG

attributed, 20,000 Quips & Quotes

Tags: G. C. Lichtenberg


How empty is theory in the presence of fact!

MARK TWAIN

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Tags: Mark Twain


All theories are worth exploring.

JOHN STOEHR

"Russia Is an Existential Threat", U.S. News & World Report, May 31, 2017


We sometimes speak of stubborn facts. Nonsense! A fact is a mere babe when compared with a stubborn theory.

SAMUEL MCCHORD CROTHERS

"Quixotism", The Gentle Reader


The quickest way to kill a good theory is to put it into practice.

EVAN ESAR

20,000 Quips & Quotes


Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough---as most wrong theories are!

H. G. WELLS

The Time Machine

Tags: H. G. Wells


Leave your theories. All theories, you see, even those of virtue, are bad, foolish, mischievous.

ROMAIN ROLLAND

Jean-Christophe

Tags: Romain Rolland


It takes enormous effort to avoid all theories and just see.

MICHAEL CRICHTON

Travels

Tags: Michael Crichton


In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.

DENIS DIDEROT

On the Interpretation of Nature

Tags: Denis Diderot


Experience arises together with theoretical assumptions not before them, and an experience without theory is just as incomprehensible as is (allegedly) a theory without experience.

PAUL FEYERABEND

Against Method


Theories are usually the over-hasty efforts of an impatient understanding that would gladly be rid of phenomena, and so puts in their place pictures, notions, nay, often mere words.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe


The final test of a theory is its capacity to solve the problems which originated it.

GEORGE DANTZIG

Linear Programming and Extensions


A theorist in government is as dangerous as a theorist in medicine, or in agriculture, and for precisely the same reason--the subjects are too complicated and too obscure for simple and decisive experiments.

H. S. LEGARE

speech on a bill imposing additional duties as depositaries in certain cases on public officers, October 1837


Theories are very thin and unsubstantial; experience only is tangible.

HOSEA BALLOU

Treasury of Thought

Tags: Hosea Ballou


The ability to test a theory is an essential aspect of science. No real science is done by just wildly making and sticking by assumptions without testing them.

DOM GALEON

"Stephen Hawking Responds to Colleagues' Critical Article on the Origins of the Universe", Futurism, May 12, 2017


It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

Sherlock Holmes

Tags: Arthur Conan Doyle


It is just what some people will not do. They conceive a certain theory, and everything has to fit into that theory. If one little fact will not fit it, they throw it aside. But it is always the facts that will not fit in that are significant.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

Death on the Nile

Tags: Agatha Christie


Suppose we have two theories -- Theory A and Theory B -- both of which account for all observations, but Theory A postulates four kinds of fundamental force while Theory B postulates 15 kinds of fundamental force. Although both theories account for all the data of observation, Theory A is to be preferred as it offers a more parsimonious account of the data.

PHILIP GOFF

"Panpsychism is a crazy theory about consciousness -- and it's probably true", The Week, March 6, 2017


No theory is good except on condition that one use it to go on beyond.

ANDRE GIDE

Journals 1889-1949

Tags: André Gide


Scientific theories are more than just ideas -- they represent our best understanding of the Universe at this time, and they are supported by evidence. However new evidence can arise which challenges the old theories.... Newton's theory of gravity successfully stood for 300 years but was unable to explain Mercury's orbit, and was replaced by general relativity.

HELEN CAMMACK

"Science truly is a world of inherent uncertainty", The Scotsman, May 22, 2017