#Theory Quotes

“Whenever a true theory appears, it will be its own evidence. Its test is, that it will explain all phenomena.”

“Here is the world, sound as a nut, perfect, not the smallest piece of chaos left, never a stitch nor an end, not a mark of haste, or botching, or second thought; but the theory of the world is a thing of shreds and patches.”

“I pass with relief from the tossing sea of Cause and Theory to the firm ground of Result and Fact.”

“The astonishment of life is the absence of any appearances of reconciliation between the theory and the practice of life.”

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

“Our theories are wedged and controlled as nothing else is. Yet sometimes alternative theoretic formulas are equally compatible with all the truths we know, and then we choose between them for subjective reasons. We choose the kind of theory to which we are already partial: we follow 'elegenace' or 'economy'”

“...These healers...my intellect has been unable to assimilate their theories....But their facts are patent and startling; and anything that interferes with the multiplication of such facts, and with our freest opportunity of observing and studying them, will, I believe, be a public calamity.”

“In theory, practice should work like theory. In practice, it doesn't.”

“Theory must mediate between all previous truths and certain new experiences”

“Psychology saves us from mistakes. It makes us more clear as to what we are about. We gain confidence in respect to any method which we are using as soon as we believe that it has theory as well as practice at its back.”

“First... a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it.”

“Well, it may be all right in practice, but it will never work in theory”

“Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.”

“There can be no theory of any account unless it corroborate with the theory of the earth.”

“The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.”

“If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.”

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.”

“I never once made a discovery ... I speak without exaggeration that I have constructed three thousand different theories in connection with the electric light ... Yet in only two cases did my experiments prove the truth of my theory.”

“You know economists; they're the sort of people who see something works in practice and wonder if it would work in theory.”

“I have a peculiar theory about radium, and I believe it is the correct one. I believe that there is some mysterious ray pervading the universe that is fluorescing to it. In other words, that all its energy is not self-constructed but that there is a mysterious something in the atmosphere that scientists have not found that is drawing out those infinitesimal atoms and distributing them forcefully and indestructibly.”

“Practical sciences proceed by building up; theoretical science by resolving into components.”

“One ounce of practice is worth a thousand pounds of theory.”

“Economists are people who wonder if what works in reality can also work in theory.”

“The rose is a rose, And was always a rose.But the theory now goes That the apple's a rose.”

“You cannot have a theory without principles. Principles is another name for prejudices.”

“When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.”

“In art, practice always comes before theory.”

“Laws which are consistent in theory often prove chaotic in practice.”

“That is the way of the scientist. He will spend thirty years in building up a mountain range of facts with the intent to prove a certain theory; then he is so happy with his achievement that as a rule he overlooks the main chief fact of all-that all his accumulation proves an entirely different thing.”

“Everything factual is, in a sense, theory. The blue of the sky exhibits the basic laws of chromatics. There is no sense in looking for something behind phenomena: they are theory.”

“How empty is theory in the presence of fact!”

“There are theoretical reformers at all times, and all the world over, living on anticipation.”

“Those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or a compass, and who never can be certain whither he is going.”

“Being engulfed in practice without delicate knowledge related to it, is in many ways like entering a ship without knowing where it is headed.”

“All theory, my friend, is grey, But green is life's glad golden tree.”

“How is Marxist-Leninist theory to be linked with the practice of the Chinese revolution? To use a common expression, it is by "shooting the arrow at the target". As the arrow is to the target, so is Marxism-Leninism to the Chinese revolution. Some comrades, however, are "shooting without a target", shooting at random, and such people are liable to harm the revolution.”

“The arrow of Marxist-Leninism must be used to hit the target of the Chinese Revolution.”

“Those experienced in work must take up the study of theory and must read seriously; only then will they be able to systematize and synthesize their experience and raise it to the level of theory, only then will they not mistake their partial experience for universal truth and not commit empiricist errors.”

“Human life is a series of compromises, and it is not always easy to achieve in practice what one has found to be true in theory.”

“If we have a correct theory but merely prate about it, pigeonhole it and do not put it into practice, then that theory, however good, is of no significance.”

“There is no such thing as abstract Marxism, only concrete Marxism... The Sinofication of Marxism - that is, making certain that its manifestation is imbued with Chinese peculiarities - is a problem that must be understood and solved by the party without delay.”

“No political party can possibly lead a great revolutionary movement to victory unless it possesses revolutionary theory and knowledge of history and has a profound grasp of the practical movement.”

“If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution.”

“Hypotheses are lullabies for teachers to sing their students to sleep.”

“The field of experience is the whole universe in all directions. Theory remains shut up within the limits of human faculties.”

“It is necessary to master Marxist theory and apply it, master it for the sole purpose of applying it. If you can apply the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint in elucidating one or two practical problems, you should be commended and credited with some achievement.”

“If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.”

“Practice should always be based upon a sound knowledge of theory.”

“Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whether he is going. Practice must always be founded on sound theory, and to this Perspective is the guide and the gateway; and without this nothing can be done well in the matter of drawing.”

“It is certainly not the least charm of a theory that it is refutable; it is precisely thereby that it attracts the more subtle minds. It seems that the hundred-times-refuted theory of the "free will" owes its persistence to this charm alone; some one is always appearing who feels himself strong enough to refute it.”