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Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification — the art of discerning what we may with advantage omit.

— Karl Popper The Open Universe : An Argument for Indeterminism (1992)

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More quotes by Karl Popper

There is no history of mankind, there is only an indefinite number of histories of all kinds of aspects of human life.

The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945)

We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than that only freedom can make security secure.

The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945)

Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.

Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963)

All things living are in search of a better world.

In Search of a Better World (1984)

If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories.

The Poverty of Historicism (1957)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Henri Poincaré Science and Hypothesis (1901)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Karl Popper (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.