You must stick to your conviction, but be ready to abandon your assumptions.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Some theories are good for nothing except to be argued about.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
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 Scientist, Geneticist
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
There are two times in a man’s life when he shouldn’t speculate: when he can afford to and when he can’t.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
Our minds have the need to know. When we don’t know we make assumptions – they make us feel safer than not knowing. And we are pretty much always making assumptions.
—Miguel Angel Ruiz (b.1952) Mexican Author, Spiritualist
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, Novelist
The way to keep yourself from making assumptions is to ask questions.
—Miguel Angel Ruiz (b.1952) Mexican Author, Spiritualist
A young man is a theory, an old man is a fact.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Another great evil arising from this desire to be thought rich; or rather, from the desire not to be thought poor, is the destructive thing which has been honored by the name of “speculation”; but which ought to be called Gambling.
—William Cobbett (1763–1835) English Journalist, Social Reformer
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
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
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
Even for practical purposes theory generally turns out the most important thing in the end.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Theologian
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
I never guess. It is a shocking habit—destructive to the logical faculty.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
It is always better to ask then to make an assumption.
—Miguel Angel Ruiz (b.1952) Mexican Author, Spiritualist
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
Let us work without theorizing, ‘Tis the only way to make life endurable.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
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
If the world were good for nothing else, it is a fine subject for speculation.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
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 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
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
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 (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
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
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
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