“The more we learn about life, the less plausible is any evolutionary theory that relies on blind, undirected, piece-by-piece change.” PiecesTheoryBlindRelyPlausible Author:Nancy Pearcey
“Modern critics, who refuse to let a plain thing alone, have now started a theory that Cervantes's work is a vast piece of "symbolism." If so, Cervantes didn't know it himself and nobody thought of it for three hundred years. He meant it as a satire upon the silly romances of chivalry.” IfsKnowsYearsRomanceThreePiecesModernTheoryHundredCriticsRefuseSillySatireSymbolismChivalry Book:Leacock on Life Source: Leacock on Life
“A single test which proves some piece of theory wrong is more valuable than a hundred tests showing that idea might be true.” IdeasMightPiecesTheoryProveHundredTestsValuableBeing True Book:The Light of Other Days Source: The Light of Other Days
“The central idea of string theory is quite straightforward. If you examine any piece of matter ever more finely, at first you'll find molecules, atoms, sub-atomic particles. Probe the smaller particles, you'll find something else, a tiny vibrating filament of energy, a little tiny vibrating string.” IfsFirstsLittlesIdeasMatterEnergyPiecesTheoryTinyStringsAtomsParticlesStraightforwardMoleculesString Theory Author:Brian Greene
“Of habit, the power that keeps the earth from flying to pieces; though there is some silly theory of gravitation.” EarthPiecesTheoryHabitSillyFlyingGravitation Book:Delphi Complete Works of O. Henry (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Complete Works of O. Henry (Illustrated)
“Fourteen years in the professor dodge has taught me that one can argue ingeniously on behalf of any theory, applied to any piece of literature. This is rarely harmful, because normally no-one reads such essays.” YearsLiteratureEducationPiecesTaughtTheoryArguingProfessorsEssaysBehalfFourteenDodge Author:Robert B. Parker
“The theory that the man who raises corn does a more important piece of work than the woman who makes it into bread is absurd. The inference is that the men alone render useful service. But neither man nor woman eats these things until the woman has prepared it.” MenDoeImportantPiecesHe ManTheoryRaisesPreparedEqualityBreadAbsurdCornInference Author:Ida Tarbell
“He is the so-called father of the modern school of chess; before him, the King was considered a weak piece and players set out to attack the King directly. Steinitz claimed that the King was well able to take care of itself, and ought not to be attacked until one had some other positional advantage. He understood more about the use of squares than Morphy and contributed a great deal more to chess theory.” WellsUseCareAbleSchoolFatherDealsPiecesPlayerModernTheoryOughtKingsUnderstoodAdvantageWeakTake CareChessSquares Author:Bobby Fischer
“Science is the process of crash testing ideas: you ram the idea head-on into a brick wall at 60mph, and knowledge is gained by examining the pieces. If the theory is solid, the pieces are from the wall. Then we build a bigger wall.” IfsIdeasProcessPiecesTheoryWallBiggerCrashTestingBricksExaminingRamsBrick Wall Author:Jon Huntsman, Jr.