For if as scientists we seek simplicity, then obviously we try the simplest surviving theory first, and retreat from it only when it proves false. No…

- Nelson Goodman

If we are ready to tolerate everything as understood, there is nothing left to explain; while if we sourly refuse to take anything, even tentatively,…

- Nelson Goodman

Any effort... to make the obscure obvious is likely to be unappealing, for the penalty of failure is confusion while the reward of success is banalit…

- Nelson Goodman

Rules and particular inferences alike are justified by being brought into agreement with each other. A rule is amended if it yields an inference we a…

- Nelson Goodman

We aim at simplicity and hope for truth.

- Nelson Goodman

We make versions, and true versions make worlds.

- Nelson Goodman

What intrigues us as a problem, and what will satisfy us as a solution, will depend upon the line we draw between what is already clear and what need…

- Nelson Goodman

An answer, once found, is dull; and the only remaining interest lies in a further effort to render equally dull what is still obscure enough to be in…

- Nelson Goodman

Truth cannot be defined or tested by agreement with 'the world'; for not only do truths differ for different worlds but the nature of agreement betwe…

- Nelson Goodman