Mathematicians do not study objects, but relations between objects.
—Henri Poincare
It is only the affirmation of the power of the mind which knows itself capable of conceiving the indefinite repetition of the same act when once this act is possible. The mind has a direct intuition of this power, and experience can only give occasion for using it and thereby becoming conscious of it.
—Henri Poincare
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.
—Henri Poincare
Topics: Doubt
It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.
—Henri Poincare
Topics: Foresight
A scientist worthy of the name, above all a mathematician, experiences in his work the same impression as an artist; his pleasure is as great and of the same nature.
—Henri Poincare
It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover. To know how to criticize is good, to know how to create is better.
—Henri Poincare
Topics: Science, Logic
The task of the educator is to make the child’s spirit pass again where its forefathers have gone, moving rapidly through certain stages but suppressing none of them.
—Henri Poincare
Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.
—Henri Poincare
Topics: Science
Experience guides us in this choice without forcing it upon us; it tells us not which is the truest geometry, but which is the most convenient.
—Henri Poincare
Invention consists in avoiding the constructing of useless contraptions and in constructing the useful combinations which are in infinite minority.
—Henri Poincare
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Claude Levi-Strauss French Anthropologist
- Jean Guitton French Catholic Philosopher
- Arthur Eddington English Astronomer
- Jean Baudrillard French Sociologist, Philosopher
- Gaston Bachelard French Philosopher
- Jacques Derrida French Philosopher, Literary Theorist
- Marie Curie Polish-born French Physicist
- Louis Pasteur French Biologist
- Camille Saint-Saens French Composer
- Guy de Maupassant French Short-story Writer
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