Quine, Willard Van Orman

"The quest for certainty is often the enemy of understanding."

"Our theories are underdetermined by experience; choice is pragmatic."

"Logic is a tool, not a mirror of reality's structure."

"Identity and change are puzzles without final solution."

"Purported synonymy dissolves upon careful inspection."

"The mind projects structure onto the flux of sensation."

"Mathematical objects need not exist independently of our theorizing."

"Consistency is a virtue; completeness is impossible."

"We learn by pragmatic adjustment, not by discovering essences."

"The distinction between analytic and synthetic is untenable."

"Translation between languages reveals the conventionality of meaning."

"Reality has no preferred description; many descriptions succeed."

"Science progresses by revising our entire system of beliefs gradually."

"Stimulus and meaning are not straightforwardly connected."

"Ontological commitment is made through our use of quantifiers."

"We impose order on experience through our conceptual schemes."

"The analytic-synthetic distinction cannot survive scrutiny."

"Observation is theory-laden from the very start."

"Language does not determine thought, but thought cannot escape language."

"Meaning is publicly constituted through communal practice."

"We are trapped within our web of belief; escape is impossible."

"Parsimony is a methodological virtue, not a metaphysical truth."

"Identity conditions must be made explicit in our theories."

"The mind is not a passive receiver but an active organizer."

"Rational belief aims at coherence more than correspondence."

"Every object is identical with itself but related to others by degrees."

"Language is a human construction, not nature's blueprint."

"What is real depends on our best current theory."

"Empiricism without a priori knowledge is ultimately self-defeating."

"The structure of language reflects the structure of our concerns."