#theories

Fiction, at the point of development at which it has arrived, demands from the writer a spirit of scrupulous abnegation.The only legitimate of all the irreconcilable antagonisms that make our life so enigmatic, so burdensome, so fascinating, so dangerous--so full of hope. They exist! And this is the only fundamental truth of fiction. ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#fiction #literary-theories #life

There are, of course, inherent tendencies to repetition in music itself. Our poetry, our ballads, our songs are full of repetition; nursery rhymes and the little chants and songs we use to teach young children have choruses and refrains. We are attracted to repetition, even as adults; we want the stimulus and the reward again and again, and in music we get it. Perhaps, therefore, we should not be surprised, should not complain if the balance sometimes shifts too far and our musical sensitivity becomes a vulnerability. ↗

— Oliver Sacks

#hypotheses #hypothesis #music #neuroscience #psychology

Things are still in early stages, but one can imagine that as we build up and systematize our theories of these associations, and try to boil them down to their core, the result might point us toward the sort of fundamental principles I advocate. ↗

— David Chalmers

#associations #boil #build #core #down

There is a class, moreover, by whom all these scientific theories, and more are held as ascertained facts, and as the basis of philosophical inferences which strike at the root of theistic beliefs. ↗

— Asa Gray

#basis #beliefs #class #facts #held

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#facts #rule #theories #use #which

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. ↗

— John W. Gardner

#activity #because #exalted #excellence #good

No religious position is loyally served by refusing to consider annoying theories which may well turn out to be facts. ↗

— Norman Lamm

#consider #facts #may #out #position

Theories pass. The frog remains. ↗

— Jean Rostand

#pass #remains #theories

We shall suffer no attachment to literature, no taste for abstract discussion, no love of purely intellectual theories, to seduce us from our devotion to the cause of the oppressed, the down trodden, the insulted and injured masses of our fellow men. ↗

— George Ripley

#attachment #cause #devotion #discussion #down

I think one of the reasons that we like conspiracy theories is I think that we like to feel like there is a group of people who are so smart and powerful that they can pull the wool over an entire country or in fact even an entire world's eyes. That certainly makes us feel like somehow we're protected, even if it's not in our best interest. ↗

— Jason Ritter

#certainly #conspiracy #country #entire #entire country