“It is easy to obtain confirmations, or verifications, for nearly every theory—if we look for confirmations. Confirmations should count only if they are the result of risky predictions; that is to say, if, unenlightened by the theory in question, we should have expected an event which was incompatible with the theory—an event which would have refuted the theory.”

“Some genuinely testable theories, when found to be false, are still upheld by their admirers—for example by introducing ad hoc some auxiliary assumption, or by re-interpreting the theory ad hoc in such a way that it escapes refutation. Such a procedure is always possible, but it rescues the theory from refutation only at the price of destroying, or at least lowering, its scientific status.”

“Thus science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths; neither with the collection of observations, nor with the invention of experiments, but with the critical discussion of myths, and of magical techniques and practices.”

“We are not students of some subject matter but students of problems. And problems may cut right across the border of any subject matter or discipline.”

“Theories are our own inventions, our own ideas; they are not forced upon us, but are our self-made instruments of thought: this has been clearly seen by the idealist. But some of these theories of ours can clash with reality; and when they do, we know that there is a reality; that there is something to remind us of the fact that our ideas may be mistaken.”

“The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities—perhaps the only one—in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected.”

“[T]he rationality of science lies not in its habit of appealing to empirical evidence in support of its dogmas—astrologers do so too—but solely in the critical approach—in an attitude which, of course, involves the critical use, among other arguments, of empirical evidence (especially in refutations).”

“Thanks to Tarski's work, the idea of objective or absolute truth—that is truth as correspondence with the facts—appears to be accepted today with confidence by all who understand it.”

“The first requirement is this. The new theory should proceed from some simple, new, and powerful, unifying idea about some connection or relation ... between hitherto unconnected things ... or facts ... or new 'theoretical entities'.”

“For, secondly, we require that the new theory should be independently testable. That is to say, apart from explaining all the explicanda which the new theory was designed to explain, it must have new and testable consequences (preferably consequences of a new kind); it must lead to the prediction of phenomena which have not so far been observed.”

“The reason is that the positivistic concept of 'meaning' or 'sense' ... is inappropriate for achieving this demarcation—simply because metaphysics need not be meaningless even though it is not science.”

“This becomes clear if we remember that most of our scientific theories originate in myths. ... This indicates how myths may develop testable components. They may, in the course of discussion, become fruitful and important for science.”

“This new light from extrabiblical texts has served not only to enlarge immeasurably the horizon for a knowledge of the ancient Near East, but it has also sharpened considerably the understanding of the content of the Bible itself.”

“In no case does the selection of a text commit the editor or the translator to a particular view with regard to the relationship of a biblical passage to extrabiblical material. ... It is hoped that this volume ... will serve to give a perspective for a better understanding of the likenesses and the differences which existed between Israel and the surrounding cultures.”

“O Atum-Kheprer, thou wast on high on the (primeval) hill; ... thou didst spit out what was Shu, thou didst sputter out what was Tefnut.”

“Thus all the gods were formed and his Ennead was completed. Indeed, all the divine order really came into being through what the heart thought and the tongue commanded.”

“I made every man like his fellow. I did not command that they do evil, (but) it was their hearts which violated what I had said.”

“The land Dilmun is pure, the land Dilmun is clean; The land Dilmun is clean, the land Dilmun is most bright. ... The lion kills not, The wolf snatches not the lamb ... The sick-eyed says not ‘I am sick-eyed,’ ... Its old woman (says) not ‘I am an old woman,’ Its old man (says) not ‘I am an old man.’”

“When on high the heaven had not been named, Firm ground below had not been called by name, Naught but primordial Apsu, their begetter, (And) Mummu-Tiamat, she who bore them all, Their waters commingling as a single body...”

“Then the lord paused to view her dead body, That he might divide the monster and do artful works. He split her like a shellfish into two parts: Half of her he set up and ceiled it as sky...”