Theory

(217 votes)   Even for practical purposes theory generally turns out the most important thing in the end.

Oliver Wendell Holmes
1809-1894, American Author, Wit, Poet

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(186 votes)   There never comes a point where a theory can be said to be true. The most that one can claim for any theory is that it has shared the successes of all its rivals and that it has passed at least one test which they have failed.

Sir Alfred Jules Ayer
1910-1989, British Philosopher

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(108 votes)   The world can doubtless never be well known by theory: practice is absolutely necessary; but surely it is of great use to a young man, before he sets out for that country, full of mazes, windings, and turnings, to have at least a general map of it, made by some experienced traveler.

Lord Chesterfield
1694-1773, British Statesman, Author

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(93 votes)   A theory is the more impressive the greater is the simplicity of its premises, the more different are the kinds of things it relates and the more extended the range of its applicability.

Albert Einstein
1879-1955, German-born American Physicist

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(90 votes)   Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up.

Albert Einstein
1879-1955, German-born American Physicist

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(90 votes)   It is not enough for theory to describe and analyze, it must itself be an event in the universe it describes. In order to do this theory must partake of and become the acceleration of this logic. It must tear itself from all referents and take pride only in the future. Theory must operate on time at the cost of a deliberate distortion of present reality.

Jean Baudrillard
French Postmodern Philosopher, Writer

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(89 votes)   It is theory that decides what can be observed.

Albert Einstein
1879-1955, German-born American Physicist

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(87 votes)   A theory is no more like a fact than a photograph is like a person.

Edgar Watson Howe
1853-1937, American Journalist, Author

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(85 votes)   A young man is a theory, an old man is a fact.

Edgar Watson Howe
1853-1937, American Journalist, Author

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(83 votes)   The wise man regulates his conduct by the theories both of religion and science. But he regards these theories not as statements of ultimate fact but as art-forms.

John B. S. Haldane
1892-1964, British Scientist, Author

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(78 votes)   Some theories are good for nothing except to be argued about.

Georg C. Lichtenberg
1742-1799, German Physicist, Satirist

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(73 votes)   The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.

Sherlock Holmes
Fictional Detective (Sir Conan Doyle)

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(70 votes)   Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.

Georg C. Lichtenberg
1742-1799, German Physicist, Satirist

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(70 votes)   Socrates thought and so do I that the wisest theory about the gods is no theory at all.

Michel Eyquem De Montaigne
1533-1592, French Philosopher, Essayist

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(63 votes)   Everything that explains the world has in fact explained a world that does not exist, a world in which men are at the center of the human enterprise and women are at the margin ''helping'' them. Such a world does not exist -- never has.

Gerda Lerner
1920-, American Educator, Author

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