Einstein is credited with saying, “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.” What he actually said has a very different meaning.
There’s an old saying that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. The idea behind this sentiment is that we might disagree on the importance we assign to various aspects of a problem — whether personal, societal, or scientific — as well as on what ought to be done about that problem from an actionable standpoint. However, in order to have a meaningful conversation about ethics, policy, or our approach to solving or otherwise addressing such a problem, we all have to share the same factual reality: at least by agreeing on what the facts of the problem actually are.
Here in 2025, unfortunately, verifiable facts are often countered with untrue narratives that stem from motivated reasoning, with many groups denying factual reality in order to promote policies that are at odds with those established facts. Some even point to Einstein in defense of this approach, noting a quote that’s often attributed to him:
“If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.”
