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Quote by Karl Popper

“Understanding a theory has, indeed, much in common with understanding a human personality. We may know or understand a man's system of dispositions pretty well; that is to say, we may be able to predict how he would act in a number of different situations. But since there are infinitely many possible situations, of infinite variety, a full understanding of a man's dispositions does not seem to be possible.”

Author

Karl Popper

Karl Popper (July 28, 1902 – September 17, 1994) was an influential philosopher known for his work on critical rationalism and falsificationism. He is renowned for his contributions to the philosophy of science, political philosophy, and epistemology, with his ideas having a profound impact on these fields. more

“We may affirm of Mr. Buffon, that which has been said of the chemists of old; though he may have failed in attaining his principal aim, of establishing a theory, yet he has brought together such a multitude of facts relative to the history of the earth, and the nature of its fossil productions, that curiosity finds ample compensation, even while it feels the want of conviction.”

Source: A history of the earth and animated nature, with an intr. view of the animal kingdom tr. from the Fr. of baron Cuvier, notes [and] a life of the author by W. Irving

“We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.‎”

Science Nature Natural Theory

Book:An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine

Source: An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine

“What I remember most clearly was that when I put down a suggestion that seemed to me cogent and reasonable, Einstein did not in the least contest this, but he only said, 'Oh, how ugly.' As soon as an equation seemed to him to be ugly, he really rather lost interest in it and could not understand why somebody else was willing to spend much time on it. He was quite convinced that beauty was a guiding principle in the search for important results in theoretical physics.”