Theory Quotes

“Critical theory”

“It is a condition which confronts us — not a theory.”

“Theory alone is of no value. Practical application of the theory is the test.”

“No single theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain.”

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

“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”

“Theory is important: it shapes our society, whether or not we engage with it intellectually.”

“Great theories are expansive; failures mire us in dogmatism and tunnel vision.”

“If any theories or opinions of mine can be damaged by facts, so much the worse for my theories.”

“It has been said, and wisely said, that every successful physical theory swallows its predecessors whole.”

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

“Theory is in itself of no use, except in so far as it makes us believe in the connection of phenomena.”

“Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them.”

“Once data are ruled out as arbiters among theories, those theories become pointless, just another clever intellectual game.”

“Not only are facts and theories in constant disharmony, they are never as neatly separated as everyone makes them out to be.”

“A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises is, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its area of applicability.”

“[T]he studies preliminary to the construction of a great theory should be at least as deliberate and thorough as those that are preliminary to the building of a dwelling-house.”

“Theories usually result from the precipitate reasoning of an impatient mind which would like to be rid of phenomena and replace them with images, concepts, indeed often with mere words.”

“The successful development of science requires a proper balance between the method of building up from observations and the method of deducing by pure reasoning from speculative assumptions...”

“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.”