Since we can never know anything for sure, it is simply not worth searching for certainty; but it is well worth searching for truth; and we do this chiefly by searching for mistakes, so that we have to correct them.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
“Knowledge and the Shaping of Reality,” lecture, Alpbach (Aug 1982)
(Source)
Reprinted in In Search of a Better World, ch. 1 (1994).
Quotations by:
Popper, Karl
Ignorance is not a simple lack of knowledge but an active aversion to knowledge, the refusal to know, issuing from cowardice, pride or laziness of mind.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
(Attributed)
As paraphrased by Ryszard Kapuscinski, "The Philosopher as Giant-Slayer," New York Times Magazine (1 Jan 1995)
We should always try to clarify and to strengthen our opponent’s position as much as possible before criticizing him, if we wish our criticism to be worth while.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1968)
Nationalism appeals to our tribal instincts, to passion and to prejudice, and to our nostalgic desire to be relieved from the strain of individual responsibility which it attempts to replace by a collective or group responsibility.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
The Open Society and Its Enemies, 2.12.3 (1945)
We can discover the fact that we had a prejudice only after having got rid of it.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
The Open Society and Its Enemies, 2.23 (1945)
What we need and what we want is to moralize politics, and not to politicize morals.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
The Open Society and Its Enemies, ch. 6 (1945)
Full text.
What we need and what we want is to moralize politics, and not to politicize morals.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 1 “The Spell of Plato”, ch. 6 “Totalitarian Justice” (1945)
(Source)
It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) Austrian-British philosopher
Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography (1976)