scientific method
Though the theory is worthless without the well-observed facts, the facts are useless without the frame of the theory to receive them.
— Charles DarwinA theory is only as good as its assumptions. If the premises are false, the theory has no real scientific value. The only scientific criterion for judging the validity of a scientific theory is a confrontation with the data of experience.
— Maurice Allais[T]heories are only hypotheses, verified by more or less numerous facts. Those verified by the most facts are the best; but even then they are never final, never to be absolutely believed.
— Claude BernardHow odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service!
— Charles DarwinIt is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter. —
— Charles DarwinIf you're too sloppy, then you never get reproducible results, and then you never can draw any conclusions; but if you are just a little sloppy, then when you see something startling, (...) you nail it down (...). So I called it the "Principle of Limited Sloppiness".
— Max Delbrück[T]he velocity of light... is adopted, such that the astronomic laws compatible with this value may be as simple as possible.
— Henri PoincaréMen who have excessive faith in their theories or ideas are not only ill prepared for making discoveries; they also make very poor observations.
— Claude BernardThere are many degrees of Probable, some nearer Truth than others, in the determining of which lies the chief exercise of our Judgment.
— Christiaan HuygensWhen we meet a fact which contradicts a prevailing theory, we must accept the fact and abandon the theory, even when the theory is supported by great names and generally accepted.
— Claude BernardToo many theorists have a tendency to ignore facts that contradict their convictions.
— Maurice Allais[P]articular facts are never scientific; only generalization can establish science.
— Claude BernardScience admits no exceptions; otherwise there would be no determinism in science, or rather, there would be no science.
— Claude BernardWe must, for example, use language, and our language is necessarily steeped in preconceived ideas.
— Henri PoincaréConsidered in itself, the experimental method is nothing but reasoning by whose help we methodically submit our ideas to experience,—the experience of facts.
— Claude Bernard[W]hat postulate do we implicitly admit? It is that the duration of two identical phenomena is the same; or... that the same causes take the same time to produce the same effects. ...Is it impossible that experiment may some day contradict our postulate?
— Henri PoincaréTo "postulate" a proposition is no more than to hope it is true.
— Charles Sanders PeirceScience consists in grouping facts so that general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them.
— Charles Darwin[S]cience, in humbling our pride, proportionately increases our power.
— Claude BernardTo suppose universal laws of nature capable of being apprehended by the mind and yet having no reason for their special forms, but standing inexplicable and irrational, is hardly a justifiable position. Uniformities are precisely the sort of facts that need to be accounted for.
— Charles Sanders Peirce