Theory quotes
540 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside theory — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?"
"You were probably educated in the conventional economic theories of your period which were magnificent and most ingenious, but--if you will pardon my saying so--all wrong."
"Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it."
"Our concern, however, is with slavery as it is, and not with any theory of it."
"Theoretical approaches have their place and are, I suppose, essential but a theory must be tempered with reality."
"Philosophy is not a theory but an activity."
"It has actually become very necessary in our time to rebut the theory that every firm and serious friendship is really homosexual."
"If a theory can not be explained to a child, then the theory is probably worthless."
"At present every coachman and every waiter argues about whether or not the relativity theory is correct."
"The most practical solution is a good theory."
"The state of the world, of course, is constantly changing, and so is theory."
"Progress in science comes when experiments contradict theory."
"You know economists; they're the sort of people who see something works in practice and wonder if it would work in theory."
"You don't discard Newton. Newton becomes the limiting case of how you would apply Einstein's theories."
"Let us leave theories there and return to here's hear."
"The philosophy of reasoning, to be complete, ought to comprise the theory of bad as well as of good reasoning."
"Every taxi driver I have ever spoken to has a theory of gender."
"You can never tell what will happen to a theory before you can get around to using it."
"A discovery is generally an unforeseen relation not included in theory."
"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."
