Karl R. Popper said this quote

“ Aestheticism and radicalism must lead us to jettison reason, and to replace it by a desperate hope for political miracles. This irrational attitude which springs from intoxication with dreams of a beautiful world is what I call Romanticism. It may seek its heavenly city in the past or in the future; it may preach ‘back to nature’ or ‘forward to a world of love and beauty’; but its appeal is always to our emotions rather than to reason. Even with the best intentions of making heaven on earth it only succeeds in making it a hell – that hell which man alone prepares for his fellow-men. ”

Famous Quotes of Karl R. Popper

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No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.

~ Karl R. Popper

Karl R. Popper Philosophy Reason

Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.

~ Karl R. Popper

Karl R. Popper Dogmatism Idealism Maturity Pragmatism Science Theory Wisdom

While differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal.

~ Karl R. Popper

Karl R. Popper Humility Knowledge Wisdom

We all have an unscientific weakness for being always in the right, and this weakness seems to be particularly common among professional and amateur politicians. But the only way to apply something like scientific method in politics is to proceed on the assumption that there can be no political move which has no drawbacks, no undesirable consequences. To look out for these mistakes, to find them, to bring them into the open, to analyse them, and to learn from them, this is what a scientific politician as well as a political scientist must do. Scientific method in politics means that the great art of convincing ourselves that we have not made any mistakes, of ignoring them, of hiding them, and of blaming others from them, is replaced by the greater art of accepting the responsibility for them, of trying to learn from them, and of applying this knowledge so that we may avoid them in future.

~ Karl R. Popper

Karl R. Popper Openness Politics Science