David Deutsch

The overwhelming majority of theories are rejected because they contain bad explanations, not because they fail experimental tests.

Our best theories are not only truer than common sense, they make more sense than common sense...

Mathematical knowledge may, just like our scientific knowledge, be deep and broad, it may be subtle and wonderfully explanatory, it may be uncontroversially accepted; but it cannot be certain.

To say that prediction is the purpose of a scientific theory is to confuse means with ends. It is like saying that the purpose of a spaceship is to burn fuel. … Passing experimental tests is only one of many things a theory has to do to achieve the real purpose of science, which is to explain the world.