Karl Popper Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• We have the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should tolerate even them whenever we can do so without running a great risk; but the risk may become so great that we cannot allow ourselves the luxury.

  Karl Popper

  Running, Luxury, Risk

  51 Copy quote

• We do not know. We can only guess.

  Karl Popper

  Objectivity, Subjectivity, Knows

  Karl Popper (2005). “The Logic of Scientific Discovery”, p.278, Routledge

  27 Copy quote

• The survival value of intelligence is that it allows us to extinct a bad idea, before the idea extincts us.

  Karl Popper

  Ideas, Survival, Bad Ideas

  22 Copy quote

• All things living are in search of a better world .

  Karl Popper

  World, All Things

  Karl Popper (2012). “In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years”, p.7, Routledge

  10 Copy quote

• There is no history, only histories.

  Karl Popper

  History

  17 Copy quote

• In my view, aiming at simplicity and lucidity is a moral duty of all intellectuals: lack of clarity is a sin, and pretentiousness is a crime.

  Karl Popper

  Views, Simplicity, Moral

  45 Copy quote

• Instead of encouraging the student to devote himself to his studies for the sake of studying, instead of encouraging in him a real love for his subject and for inquiry, he is encouraged to study for the sake of his personal career; he is led to acquire only such knowledge as is serviceable in getting him over the hurdles which he must clear for the sake of his advancement.

  Karl Popper

  Education, Real, Careers

  Karl R. Popper (2013). “The Open Society and Its Enemies”, p.128, Princeton University Press

  16 Copy quote

• It is not his possession of knowledge, of irrefutable truth, that makes the man of science, but his persistent and recklessly critical quest for truth.

  Karl Popper

  Knowledge, Science, Men

  The Logic of Scientific Discovery Ch. 10

  41 Copy quote

• I remained a socialist for several years, even after my rejection of Marxism; and if there could be such a thing as socialism combined with individual liberty, I would be a socialist still. For nothing could be better than living a modest, simple, and free life in an egalitarian society.

  Karl Popper

  Beautiful, Dream, Simple

  "The Lesson of this Century: With Two Talks on Freedom and the Democratic State".

  226 Copy quote

• The best thing that can happen to a human being us to find a problem, to fall in love with that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem, unless another problem even more lovable appears.

  Karl Popper

  Falling In Love, Trying, Problem

  138 Copy quote

• The difference between the amoeba and Einstein is that, although both make use of the method of trial and error elimination, the amoeba dislikes erring while Einstein is intrigued by it.

  Karl Popper

  Science, Errors, Differences

  30 Copy quote

• When we enter a new situation in life and are confronted by a new person, we bring with us the prejudices of the past and our previous experiences of people. These prejudices we project upon the new person. Indeed, getting to know a person is largely a matter of withdrawing projections; of dispelling the smoke screen of what we imagine he is like and replacing it with the reality of what he is actually like.

  Karl Popper

  Past, Reality, Situations In Life

  99 Copy quote

• A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice.

  Karl Popper

  Thinking, People, Vices

  Karl Popper (2014). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.48, Routledge

  112 Copy quote

• It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.

  Karl Popper

  Communication, Misunderstood, Way

  Karl Popper (2005). “Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography”, p.29, Routledge

  28 Copy quote

• The true Enlightenment thinker, the true rationalist, never wants to talk anyone into anything. No, he does not even want to convince; all the time he is aware that he may be wrong. Above all, he values the intellectual independence of others too highly to want to convince them in important matters. He would much rather invite contradiction, preferably in the form of rational and disciplined criticism. He seeks not to convince but to arouse - to challenge others to form free opinions.

  Karl Popper

  Free Opinion, Challenges, Intellectual

  "On Freedom (All Life is Problem Solving)". Essay by Karl Popper, translated by Patrick Camiller, 1994.

  48 Copy quote

• The attempt to make heaven on earth invariably produces hell.

  Karl Popper

  Heaven, Earth, Hell

  Karl Popper (2005). “The Open Society and its Enemies: Hegel and Marx”, p.252, Routledge

  76 Copy quote

• We do not know anything - this is the first. Therefore, we should be very modest - this is the second. Not to claim that we do know when we do not - this is the third. That's the kind of attitude I'd like to popularize. There is little hope for success.

  Karl Popper

  Attitude, Littles, Firsts

  16 Copy quote

• It is not possible to write clearly enough to avoid being misrepresented by people who are sufficiently determined to do so.

  Karl Popper

  Writing, People, Determined

  38 Copy quote

• A theory that explains everything, explains nothing

  Karl Popper

  Theory

  15 Copy quote

• It is wrong to think that belief in freedom always leads to victory; we must always be prepared for it to lead to defeat. If we choose freedom, then we must be prepared to perish along with it.

  Karl Popper

  Freedom, Thinking, Victory

  Karl Popper (2013). “All Life is Problem Solving”, p.92, Routledge

  19 Copy quote

• I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence 'democracy,' and the other, 'tyranny.'.

  Karl Popper

  Freedom, Government, Democracy

  Karl Raimund Popper (2002). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.464, Psychology Press

  23 Copy quote

• . . . it seems to me certain that more people are killed out of righteous stupidity than out of wickedness.

  Karl Popper

  People, Stupidity, Wickedness

  Karl Popper (2014). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.575, Routledge

  24 Copy quote

• The game of science is, in principle, without end. He who decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any further test, and that they can be regarded as finally verified, retires from the game.

  Karl Popper

  Games, One Day, Principles

  Karl Popper (2005). “The Logic of Scientific Discovery”, p.32, Routledge

  56 Copy quote

• No particular theory may ever be regarded as absolutely certain.... No scientific theory is sacrosanct.

  Karl Popper

  May, Theory, Certain

  4 Copy quote

• We hate the very idea that our own ideas may be mistaken, so we cling dogmatically to our conjectures.

  Karl Popper

  Hate, Ideas, May

  8 Copy quote

Page 2 of 7

First

← Prev

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin