“Nothing can be more idle than the opposition of theory to practice!”
Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xxi
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Jean-Baptiste Say 72
French economist and businessman 1767–1832Related quotes
“We are a moderate, pragmatic people, more comfortable with practice than theory.”
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page 94.
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Michel Henry, Marx I. une philosophie de la réalité, éd. Gallimard, coll. « Nrf », 1976, p. 353
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Original: (fr) Parce que la pratique est subjective, la théorie qui est toujours la théorie d’un objet, ne peut atteindre la réalité de cette pratique, ce qu’elle est en elle-même, sa subjectivité précisément, mais seulement se la représenter, de telle manière que cette représentation laisse hors d’elle l’être réel de la pratique, l’effectivité du faire. La théorie ne fait rien.
“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.”
“A business man once stated that there is nothing so practical as a good theory.”
Lewin (1943, 118), as cited in Karl E. Weick, "Theory and practice in the real world." in: The Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory, Tsoukas et al. (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 460; Also in Lewin, K. (1951). Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers (D. Cartwright, Ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row
1940s
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The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928)
“Canada is a country that works better in practice than in theory.”
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“The theory of the Text can coincide only with a practice of writing.”
Conclusion
From Work to Text (1971)
Context: The discourse on the Text should itself be nothing other than text, research, textual activity, since the Text is that social space which leaves no language safe, outside, nor any subject of the enunciation in position as judge, master, analyst, confessor, decoder. The theory of the Text can coincide only with a practice of writing.