Alternatives Quote by William James

A theory has only the alternative of being right or wrong. A model has a third possibility: it may be right, but irrelevant.

— Manfred Eigen

No single theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain

— Paul Feyerabend

The important question is whether [a theory] is true, not whether envisioning an alternative is too intellectually painful to bear.

— J. D. Trout

When one theory is simpler than its competitor, this fact is relevant to saying what the world is like.

— Elliott Sober

In economic theory the conclusions are sometimes less interesting than the route by which they are reached.

— Piero Sraffa

Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred.

— William of Ockham

Theory is worth but little, unless it can explain its own phenomena, and it must effect this without contradicting itself; therefore, the facts are…

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Now, if you believe that the universe is not arbitrary, but is governed by definite laws, you ultimately have to combine the partial theories…

— Stephen Hawking

A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises is, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the…

— Albert Einstein

Any theory is better than no theory.

— Fuller Albright

There are many portions of economical doctrine which appear to me as scientific in form as they are consonant with facts.

— William Stanley Jevons

We can invent as many theories we like, and any one of them can be made to fit the facts. But that theory is…

— Albert Einstein