Basic Principle Quotes

Every form of government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle.

One of the basic principles when you dealing with mathematics and Islam: Seek knowledge.

Radical simply means grasping things at the root.

From somewhere, back in my youth, heard Prof say, 'Manuel, when faced with a problem you do not understand, do any part of it you do understand, then look at it again.' He had been teaching me something he himself did not understand very well—something in math—but had taught me something far more important, a basic principle.

It is my opinion that everything must be based on a simple idea. And it is my opinion that this idea, once we have finally discovered it, will be so compelling, so beautiful, that we will say to one another, yes, how could it have been any different.

Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon

If you're going to define a shortcut, then make it the base [sic] darn shortcut you can.

All we know of science or of religion comes from philosophy. It lies behind and above all other knowledge we have or use.

If we extend our senses, then, consequently, we will extend our knowledge. It's really very basic.

For me it's absolutely necessary to start from the very beginning. I can't think of coming and contributing something anywhere along the line other than the very start.

Physicists often quote from T. H. White's epic novel The Once and Future King, where a society of ants declares, "Everything not forbidden is compulsory." In other words, if there isn't a basic principle of physics forbidding time travel, then time travel is necessarily a physical possibility. (The reason for this is the uncertainty principle. Unless something is forbidden, quantum effects and fluctuations will eventually make it possible if we wait long enough. Thus, unless there is a law forbidding it, it will eventually occur.)

Sociological method as we practice it rests wholly on the basic principle that social facts must be studied as things, that is, as realities external to the individual. There is no principle for which we have received more criticism; but none is more fundamental. Indubitably for sociology to be possible, it must above all have an object all its own. It must take cognizance of a reality which is not in the domain of other sciences... there can be no sociology unless societies exist, and that societies cannot exist if there are only individuals.

A policy ought to start with some principle.

1 + 1 = 2. Everything else is derived.