Karl Popper Quotes
Karl Popper was a 20th-century Austrian-British philosopher of science, social philosopher, and one of the most influential thinkers of the analytic tradition. The Logic of Scientific Discovery, originally published in German in 1934, argued that scientific theories cannot be verified but can be falsified, and that falsifiability is the criterion that distinguishes empirical science from non-science. The quotes below are attributed to Karl Popper, organized by topic.
Karl Popper on Knowledge
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.”
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“We do not know: we can only guess.”
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations.”
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.”
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“Good tests kill flawed theories; we remain alive to guess again.”
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.”
Karl Popper on Life
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“All life is problem solving.”
Karl Popper on Politics
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance.”
Karl Popper on Time
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“There is no history of mankind, there is only an indefinite number of histories of all kinds of aspects of human life.”
Karl Popper on Truth
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Attributed to Karl Popper:
“It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.”