Ifs Quote by Jerry A. Coyne

A theory is scientific only if it can be disproved. But the moment you try to cover absolutely everything the chances are that you…

— Hermann Bondi

Of course, if one ignores contradictory observations, one can claim to have an "elegant" or "robust" theory. But it isn't science.

— Halton Arp

We have reached a situation where a theory has been accepted as fact by some, and possible contrary evidence is shunted aside. [This is]…

— Robert Shapiro

Theories are not rejected by cirsumstantial evidence: it takes a theory to beat a theory.

— George Stigler

A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think)…

— Karl Popper

A good scientific theory is one which is falsifiable, which has not been falsified.

— Richard Dawkins

One does not ask whether a scientific theory is true, but only whether it is convenient.

— Henri Poincare

Every theory presented as a scientific concept is just that; it's a theory that tries to explain more about the world than previous theories…

— Marvin Harris

“[Modern scientific] theories can necessarily never be more than hypothetical, since their starting-point is wholly empirical, for facts in themselves are always susceptible of…

— René Guénon

The theory of science which permits and encourages the exclusion of so much that is true and real and existent cannot be considered a…

— Abraham Maslow

No particular theory may ever be regarded as absolutely certain… No scientific theory is sacrosanct...

— Karl Popper

It is sometimes said that we should never believe a scientific theory until it is verified by experiment. But a famous astronomer has also…

— Joao Magueijo