You must stick to your conviction, but be ready to abandon your assumptions.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
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.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
The way to keep yourself from making assumptions is to ask questions.
—Miguel Angel Ruiz (b.1952) Mexican Spiritualist Author
Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
It is theory that decides what can be observed.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
It is always better to ask then to make an assumption.
—Miguel Angel Ruiz (b.1952) Mexican Spiritualist Author
I never guess. It is a shocking habit—destructive to the logical faculty.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
To insure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough, a police force is needed as well.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
Good tests kill flawed theories; we remain alive to guess again.
—Karl Popper (1902–94) Austrian-born British Philosopher
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.
—A. J. Ayer (1910–89) English Philosopher
Speculation is only a word covering the making of money out of the manipulation of prices, instead of supplying goods and services.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Even for practical purposes theory generally turns out the most important thing in the end.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
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.
—J. B. S. Haldane (1892–1964) British Biologist, Geneticist
Every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact casus non faederis to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits. Without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
No theory is good unless it permits, not rest, but the greatest work. No theory is good except on condition that one use it to go on beyond.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Socrates thought and so do I that the wisest theory about the gods is no theory at all.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
A theory is no more like a fact than a photograph is like a person.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
What most people don’t seem to realize is that there is just as much money to be made out of the wreckage of a civilization as from the upbuilding of one.
—Margaret Mitchell (1900–49) American Novelist, Journalist
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 Physicist
If the world were good for nothing else, it is a fine subject for speculation.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The psychological context of dream-contents consists in the web of associations in which the dream is naturally embedded. Theoretically we can never know anything in advance about this web, but in practice it is sometimes possible, granted long enough experience. Even so, careful analysis will never rely too much on technical rules; the danger of deception and suggestion is too great. In the analysis of isolated dreams above all, this kind of knowing in advance and making assumptions on the grounds of practical expectation or general probability is positively wrong. It should therefore be an absolute rule to assume that every dream, and every part of a dream, is unknown at the outset, and to attempt an interpretation only after carefully taking up the context. We can then apply the meaning we have thus discovered to the text of the dream itself and see whether this yields a fluent reading, or rather whether a satisfying meaning emerges.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
A conception not reducible to the small change of daily experience is like a currency not exchangeable for articles of consumption; it is not a symbol, but a fraud.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in.
—Alan Alda (b.1936) American Actor, TV Personality, Screenwriter
Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.
—Alexander Herzen (1812–70) Russian Revolutionary, Writer
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 Physicist
The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth—that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Leave a Reply