Best theory & self Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“The world runs on individuals pursuing their self interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn't construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn't revolutionize the automobile industry that way.”

“one of the tests of a theory is that, once grasped, it appears self-evident.”

Self Society Theory Tests Evident

Author:Arthur Koestler

“I regard physics as that subset of magic that works fairly reliably. I regard magick, in the traditional sense, as a kind of physics that we strive to understand and render more reliable. So it all comes down to the same thing, a quest to understand and manipulate the world with a self-consistent and coherent theory .”

World Kind Self Magic Theory Regard Strive Physics Traditional Consistent Quests Manipulate

Author:Peter J. Carroll

“Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren't that many who've gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us.”

Thinking Knows Way Want Writing Self Faces Wish Deals Powerful Fiction Gone Clear Doubt Theory Intellectual Tools Institutions Discrimination Most Powerful Non Fiction Self-doubt

Author:Bell Hooks

“Human rights are an aspect of natural law, a consequence of the way the universe works, as solid and as real as photons or the concept of pi. The idea of self- ownership is the equivalent of Pythagoras' theorem, of evolution by natural selection, of general relativity, and of quantum theory. Before humankind discovered any of these, it suffered, to varying degrees, in misery and ignorance.”

“Some have speculated that the way [Albert] Camus died made his theories on absurdity a self-fulfilling prophecy. Others would say it was the triumphant meaningful way he lived that allowed him to rise heroically above absurdity.”

Way Made Self Theory Died Meaningful Fulfilling Prophecy Absurdity Triumphant Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Book:Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

Source: Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

“Even with limited intelligence, knowing oneself is not as difficult as some say, but to act according to what one has realized about oneself in real life is as difficult as practicing anything else, compared to theory.”

Real Self Life Is Difficult Practice Knowing Theory Oneself Real Life Knowing Oneself

Author:Franz Grillparzer

“What we grieve for is not the loss of a grand vision, but rather the loss of common things, events and gestures.... ordinariness is the most precious thing we struggle for, what the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto fought for. Not noble causes or abstract theories. But the right to go on living with a sense of purpose and a sense of self-worth--an ordinary life.”

“Identity is marketed in national capitalism as a property. It is something you can purchase, or purchase a relation to. Or it is something you already own that you can express: my masculinity, my queerness . But identity need not be simply a caption for an image of an unchangeable concrete self. It is also a theory of the future, of history.”

Needs Self Identity Theory Capitalism Relation Property Concrete Masculinity Unchangeable Caption

Author:Lauren Berlant

“My whole theory for the improvement of society is based on a belief in the discipline and the education of the individual to self-control and right doing, for the sake of right doing. I have never seen fundamental improvements imposed from the top by ordinances and laws.”

Self Whole Law Individual Belief Theory Discipline Fundamentals Sake Improvement Self Control Social Change Ordinances

Author:Ida Tarbell

“In view of the importance of philanthropy in our society, it is surprising that so little attention has been given to it by economic or social theorists. In economic theory, especially, the subject is almost completely ignored. This is not, I think, because economists regard mankind as basically selfish or even because economic man is supposed to act only in his self-interest; it is rather because economics has essentially grown up around the phenomenon of exchange and its theoretical structure rests heavily on this process.”

“A second possible approach to general systems theory is through the arrangement of theoretical systems and constructs in a hierarchy of complexity, roughly corresponding to the complexity of the "individuals" of the various empirical fields... leading towards a "system of systems." [...] I suggest below a possible arrangement of "levels" of theoretical discourse...(vi) [...] the "animal" level, characterized by increased mobility, teleological behavior and self-awareness...”

“Though it is folly to suppose that happiness is a matter of volition, and that we can make ourselves content and cheerful whenever we choose - a theory that many poor hypochondriacs are taunted with till they are nigh driven mad - yet, on the other hand, no sane mind is ever left without the power of self-discipline and self-control in a measure, which measure increases in proportion as it is exercised.”

“One current reaction to change in families, for example, is the proposal for more "education for parenthood," on the theory that this training will not only teach specific skills such as how to change diapers or how to play responsively with toddlers, but will raise parents' self-confidence at the same time. The proposed cure, in short, is to reform and educate the people with the problem.”

People Self Play Problem Parent Teach Example Theory Skills Training Raises Currents Self Confidence Reactions Cures Reform Parenthood Educate Proposal Diapers Toddler

Author:Kenneth Keniston

“Knowledge is not a series of self-consistent theories that converges toward an ideal view; it is rather an ever increasing ocean of mutually incompatible (and perhaps even incommensurable) alternatives, each single theory, each fairy tale, each myth that is part of the collection forcing the others into greater articulation and all of them contributing, via this process of competition, to the development of our consciousness.”

Source: Against method: outline of an anarchistic theory of knowledge

“Social cognitive theory rejects the dichotomous conception of self as agent and self as object. Acting on the environment and acting on oneself entail shifting the perspective of the same agent rather than reifying different selves regulating each other or transforming the self from agent to object”

Different Self Social Acting Environment Objects Theory Perspective Oneself Agents Rejects Conception Shifting Transforming Cognitive Self Efficacy

Author:Albert Bandura

“In social cognitive theory, perceived self-efficacy results from diverse sources of information conveyed vicariously and through social evaluation, as well as through direct experience”

Wells Self Social Results Information Theory Source Direct Diverse Cognitive Evaluation Efficacy Self Efficacy Perceived Self

Author:Albert Bandura

“To give the theory plenty of 'rope' and see if it hangs itself eventually is better tactics than to choke it off at the outset b abstract accusations of self-contradiction”

Ifs Giving Self Truth Theory Plenty Abstract Contradiction Rope Tactics Choke Accusation

Author:William James

“It has become a commonplace that aggressiveness also often has its roots in fear. I am inclined to think that this theory has been pushed too far. [...] The type of aggressiveness that is the outcome of timidity is not, I think, that which inspires great leaders; the great leaders, I should say, have an exceptional self-confidence which is not only on the surface, but penetrates deep into the subconscious.”

Source: Power: A New Social Analysis

“In America, much foreign policy seems contrived to be an exercise in political theory with no attention to history whatsoever. Yet there's a great reverence for history - though it's history as thumb-sucking, security blanket-nibbling self-congratulation.”

Self Seems America Political Attention Security Policy Theory Exercise Reverence Foreign Policy Congratulations Thumbs Blanket Political Theory Nibbling

Author:Simon Schama

“I try to tell student writers to read as much as possible, not only literature but philosophy, theory, and to form obsessions. There's a big taboo in fiction creative writing workshops against using the self at all, and I think I try to encourage students to write the self, but to connect the self to something larger, which is to be this thinking, seeing, searching, eternally curious person, and that writing can come out of investigating and trying to understand confusion, and doubts, and obsessions.”

“A formative influence on my undergraduate self was the response of a respected elder statesmen of the Oxford Zoology Department when an American visitor had just publicly disproved his favourite theory. The old man strode to the front of the lecture hall, shook the American warmly by the hand and declared in ringing, emotional tones: "My dear fellow, I wish to thank you. I have been wrong these fifteen years." And we clapped our hands red. Can you imagine a Government Minister being cheered in the House of Commons for a similar admission? "Resign, Resign" is a much more likely response!”

“Science fiction - and the correct shortcut is 'sf' - uses actual scientific facts or theories for the source ideas or framework of the story. It has some scientific content, however speculative. If it breaks a law of physics, it knows it's doing so and follows up the consequences. If it invents a society of aliens, it does so with some respect for and knowledge of the social sciences and what you might call social probabilities. And some of it is literarily self-aware enough to treat its metaphors as metaphors.”

“I have a theory that self-made, first-generation actresses don't feel entitled to success.”

Feels Firsts Made Self Generations Theory Actresses Entitled Self Made

Author:Natasha Lyonne

“The shell game that we play ... is technically called 'renormalization'. But no matter how clever the word, it is still what I would call a dippy process! Having to resort to such hocus-pocus has prevented us from proving that the theory of quantum electrodynamics is mathematically self-consistent. It's surprising that the theory still hasn't been proved self-consistent one way or the other by now; I suspect that renormalization is not mathematically legitimate.”

Way Stills Self Matter Play Games Process Theory Prove Clever One Way Consistent Suspects Surprising Quantum Shells Resorts Hocus Pocus

Book:QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

Source: QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

“My theory of self-made men is, then, simply this; that they are men of work. Whether or not such men have acquired material, moral or intellectual excellence, honest labor faithfully, steadily and persistently pursued, is the best, if not the only, explanation of their success... All human experience proves over and over again, that any success which comes through meanness, trickery, fraud and dishonour, is but emptiness and will only be a torment to its possessor.”

Source: The Essential Douglass: Selected Writings and Speeches

“I don't think theory adds to criticism. (Methodology does, for better or worse.) Theory's function is to make criticism self-conscious, maybe even a little sheepish, about its ex cathedra pronouncements.”

Thinking Littles Doe Self Theory Conscious Criticism Function Add Exes Self Conscious Methodology

Author:Paul Fry

“Classic economic theory, based as it is on an inadequate theory of human motivation, could be revolutionized by accepting the reality of higher human needs, including the impulse to self actualization and the love for the highest values.”

“My theory is this: Women falter when they're called on to be highly self-conscious about their talents. Not when they're called on to enact them.”

Self Talent Theory Conscious Self Conscious

Author:Meghan O'Rourke

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Theory Quotes