Theoretical Quotes - Page 13

• "What would I do if?.." By thinking tactically, we can more easily arrive at correct tactical solutions, and practice - even theoretical practice - tends to produce confidence in our solutions which, in turn, makes it easier for us, and thus quicker, to reach a decision.

  Jeff Cooper

  Thinking, Practice, Decision

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.20, Paladin Press

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• A theoretical system does not merely state facts which have been observed and that logically deducible relations to other facts which have also been observed.

  Talcott Parsons

  Doe, Facts, States

  Talcott Parsons (1968). “The structure of social action: a study in social theory with special reference to a group of recent European writers”

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• Our hypotheses are initially rooted in theoretical consistency and elegance, but...ultimatel y it is experiment not rigid belief that determines what is correct.

  Lisa Randall

  Consistency, Belief, Elegance

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• The consequences of a plethora of half-digested theoretical knowledge are deplorable.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Half, Consequence

  Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Aims of Education”, p.4, Simon and Schuster

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• The frontier orbital approach was further developed in various directions by my own group and many other scientists, both theoretical and experimental.

  Kenichi Fukui

  Groups, Scientist, Approach

  Kenichi Fukui (1997). “Frontier Orbitals and Reaction Paths: Selected Papers of Kenichi Fukui”, p.151, World Scientific

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• In Marseilles they make half the toilet soap we consume in America, but the Marseillaise only have a vague theoretical idea of its use, which they have obtained from books of travel.

  Mark Twain

  Book, Ideas, America

  Mark Twain (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated)”, p.4281, Delphi Classics

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• The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship.

  John Paul Stevens

  Expression, Benefits, Censorship

  "ACLU Hails Supreme Court Victory in Internet Censorship Challenge". www.aclu.org. June 27, 1997.

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• After reading a paper by a young theoretical scientist, Pauli, shaking his head sadly, commented:
  That is not even wrong.

  Wolfgang Pauli

  Reading, Science, Paper

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• The amount of detailed information which an individual has at his command and his theoretical elaborations of the same are mutually dependent; they grow in and through each other.

  Hermann Ebbinghaus

  Information, Individual, Command

  Hermann Ebbinghaus “Memory”, Рипол Классик

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• Not infrequently ... the theoretical is a synonym of the stereotyped. For the 'theoretical' in chess is nothing more than that which can be found in the textbooks and to which players try to conform because they cannot think up anything better or equal, anything original.

  Mikhail Chigorin

  Player, Thinking, Trying

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• The fact that there are so many weak, poor and boring stories and novels written and published in America has been ascribed by our rebels to the horrible squareness of our institutions, the idiocy of power, the debasement of sexual instincts, and the failure of writers to be alienated enough. The poems and novels of these same rebellious spirits, and their theoretical statements, are grimy and gritty and very boring too, besides being nonsensical, and it is evident by now that polymorphous sexuality and vehement declarations of alienation are not going to produce great works of art either.

  Saul Bellow

  Art, America, Poetry

  Saul Bellow (2015). “There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction”, p.149, Penguin

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• The earlier, more analytic impulse was to use very rational but kind of absurd techniques or tendencies—mapping, charting, and architecture—to try and make sense of who I was in my time and space and political environment. But there’s only so much truth to a theoretical understanding of something.

  Julie Mehretu

  Space, Political, Understanding

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• I think philosophers can do things akin to theoretical scientists, in that, having read about empirical data, they too can think of what hypotheses and theories might account for that data. So there's a continuity between philosophy and science in that way.

  Robert Nozick

  Philosophy, Thinking, Data

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• Hence the sterile, uninspiring futility of a great many theoretical discussions of ethics, and the resentment which many people feel towards such discussions: moral principles remain in their minds as floating abstractions, offering them a goal they cannot grasp and demanding that they reshape their souls in its image, thus leaving them with a burden of undefinable moral guilt.

  Ayn Rand

  Offering, People, Goal

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• A theoretical physicist can spend his entire lifetime missing the intellectual challenge of experimental work, experiencing none of the thrills and dangers - the overhead crane with its ten-ton load, the flashing skull and crossbones and danger, radioactivity signs. A theorist's only real hazard is stabbing himself with a pencil while attacking a bug that crawls out of his calculations.

  Leon M. Lederman

  Real, Science, Skulls

  Leon M. Lederman, Dick Teresi (1993). “The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, what is the Question?”, p.15, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The intrusion of history is not just theoretical. It is also the legacy of being an accomplice or a victim, or just an onlooker. In each case, history entails the uncomfortable presence of earlier unresolved roles.

  Charles S. Maier

  Ukraine, Legacy, Roles

  Charles S. Maier (1998). “The Unmasterable Past: History, Holocaust, and German National Identity, With a new preface”, p.160, Harvard University Press

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• I don’t have a theoretical language for music. I’m really inspired by sculpture, so I like to say, ‘you’re not making music, you’re creating a space. You’re building a room, putting some objects in it, and seeing what happens to the objects over time.’

  Daniel Lopatin

  Space, Creating, Sculpture

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• The aether: Invented by Isaac Newton, reinvented by James Clerk Maxwell. This is the stuff that fills up the empty space of the universe. Discredited and discarded by Einstein, the aether is now making a Nixonian comeback. It's really the vacuum, but burdened by theoretical, ghostly particles.

  Leon M. Lederman

  Science, Space, Clerks

  Leon M. Lederman, Dick Teresi (1993). “The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, what is the Question?”, p.13, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• In some theoretical way I know that a half-million people hear the show. But in a day-to-day way, there's not much evidence of it.

  Ira Glass

  People, Half, Way

  "Ira Glass: Live and Uncut". Interview with Ana Marie Cox And Joanna Dionis, www.motherjones.com. August 11, 1998.

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• The facile economic and psychological debunking of the theoretical life cannot do away with its irreducible beauties.

  Allan Bloom

  Philosopher, Economic, Psychological

  Allan Bloom (2008). “Closing of the American Mind”, p.245, Simon and Schuster

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• If philosophy is practice, a demand to know the manner in which its history is to be studied is entailed: a theoretical attitude toward it becomes real only in the living appropriation of its contents from the texts.

  Karl Jaspers

  Attitude, Philosophy, Real

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• At the present time there exist problems beyond our ability to solve, not because of theoretical difficulties, but because of insufficient means of mechanical computation.

  Howard Aiken

  Mean, Problem, Difficulty

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• All theoretical chemistry is really physics; and all theoretical chemists know it.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Chemistry, Physics, Knows

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• In the Java world, security is not viewed as an add-on a feature. It is a pervasive way of thinking. Those who forget to think in a secure mindset end up in trouble. But just because the facilities are there doesn't mean that security is assured automatically. A set of standard practices has evolved over the years. The Secure Coding Standard for Java is a compendium of these practices. These are not theoretical research papers or product marketing blurbs. This is all serious, mission-critical, battle-tested, enterprise-scale stuff.

  James Gosling

  Mean, Thinking, Years

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• Responsible Development is the style of development I aspire to now. It can be summarized by answering the question, How would I develop if it were my money? I'm amazed how many theoretical arguments evaporate when faced with this question.

  Kent Beck

  Style, Development, Argument

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