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The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities — perhaps the only one — in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there.

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

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

The Open Universe : An Argument for Indeterminism (1992)

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)

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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.