Manfred Eigen Quotes

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

On Pragmatism: It's all very well in theory but it doesn't work in practice

Well, it may be all right in practice, but it will never work in theory

You can't run a business or anything else on a theory.

A think may look specious in theory, and yet be ruinous in practice; a thing may look evil in theory, and yet be in practice excellent.

An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.

The ultimate, most holy form of theory is action.

Knowledge is vain and fruitless which is not reduced to practice.

An ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory!

Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time.

Theory can leave questions unanswered, but practice has to come up with something.

Ideas get substance and value not by being discussed but by being lived.

In the real world, words don't automatically translate into deeds.

To learn something but not to do is really not to learn. To know something but not to do is really not to know.

Nothing shows up the difference between the things said or read, so much as the daily experience of it.

Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless.

To understand the theory which underlies all things is not sufficient. Theory is but the preparation for practice.

One pursues economic theory in too extreme an extent he is likely to be in trouble; you have to consider the reality and blend what you observe as reality with an ingredient of theory, and a little, just a little bit ahead of the time, then you are likely to succeed.

Everything can look good in theory and in practice it all falls apart.

Theory looks well on paper, but does not amount to anything without practice.

Theory, from whatever source, is not perfect until it is reduced to practice.

Knowing is not enough, You must apply

The life of doctrine is in application.

No battle can be won in the study, and theory without practice is dead.

A learned person will become noble only when he or she has put into real practice what has been learned, instead of mere words.