Henri PoincareIf nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living ✨ Henri Poincare (2012). The Value of Scien… ▶374Life
Henri PoincareSo is not mathematical analysis then not just a vain game of the mind? To the physicist it can only give a convenient language; but isn't that a mediocre service, which after all … ▶352ReadingThoughtTruth
Henri PoincareGuessing before proving! Need I remind you that it is so that all important discoveries have been made?374Thought
Henri PoincareIt is the harmony of the diverse parts, their symmetry, their happy balance; in a word it is all that introduces order, all that gives unity, that permits us to see clearly and to… ▶353PoliticsReading
Henri PoincareDoubt everything or believe everything: these are two equally convenient strategies. With either we dispense with the need for reflection.353Reflection
Henri PoincareExperiment is the sole source of truth. It alone can teach us something new; it alone can give us certainty. ✨ The Foundations of Science Science and Hypothesis (p. 127)365Truth
Henri PoincareConsider now the Milky Way. Here also we see an innumerable dust, only the grains of this dust are no longer atoms but stars; these grains also move with great velocities, they ac… ▶332ReflectionTime
Henri PoincareIt is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover. ✨ Atlas of the Poetic Continent: Pathways in Ecological Citizenship. Book by Shelley Sacks, Wolf… ▶321Reading
Henri PoincareHypotheses are what we lack the least. ✨ Henri Poincare (2012). The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare, p.225, Modern Library377Humanity
Henri PoincareMathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. ✨ Henri Poincare (2012). The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare, p.622, Modern Librar… ▶322Death
Henri PoincareThe scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do so. He studies it because he takes pleasure in it, and he takes pleasure in it because it is beautiful. If nature we… ▶366DeathLifeReading
Henri PoincareIt is the simple hypotheses of which one must be most wary; because these are the ones that have the most chances of passing unnoticed. ✨ Thermodynamique: Leçons prof… ▶312Reading
Henri PoincareMathematics has a threefold purpose. It must provide an instrument for the study of nature. But this is not all: it has a philosophical purpose, and, I daresay, an aesthetic purpo… ▶378Truth
Henri PoincareIt may be appropriate to quote a statement of Poincare, who said (partly in jest no doubt) that there must be something mysterious about the normal law since mathematicians think … ▶312PoliticsThought
Henri PoincareMathematical discoveries, small or great are never born of spontaneous generation.356Reading
Henri PoincareWhat is it indeed that gives us the feeling of elegance in a solution, in a demonstration? ✨ The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Futu… ▶302HopeHumanityReading
Henri PoincareThere are no solved problems; there are only problems that are more or less solved.369Philosophy
Henri PoincareIf we ought not to fear mortal truth, still less should we dread scientific truth. In the first place it can not conflict with ethics? But if science is feared, it is above all be… ▶292DeathReadingTruth
Henri PoincareIt may happen that small differences in the initial conditions produce very great ones in the final phenomena.336Politics
Henri PoincareIt is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all. ✨ The Foundations of Science Science and Hypothesis (p. 129)348Truth
Henri PoincareIn one word, to draw the rule from experience, one must generalize; this is a necessity that imposes itself on the most circumspect observer.304Life
Henri PoincareA reality completely independent of the spirit that conceives it, sees it, or feels it, is an impossibility. A world so external as that, even if it existed, would be forever inac… ▶337Truth
Henri PoincareEvery good mathematician should also be a good chess player and vice versa. ✨ Henri Poincare (2012). The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare, p.642, Moder… ▶337Love
Henri PoincareIntuition is more important to discovery than logic.316Time
Henri PoincareIf one looks at the different problems of the integral calculus which arise naturally when one wishes to go deep into the different parts of physics, it is impossible not to be st… ▶305Hope
Henri PoincareIdeas rose in clouds; I felt them collide until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making a stable combination.261Thought
Henri PoincareA sane mind should not be guilty of a logical fallacy, yet there are very fine minds incapable of following mathematical demonstrations.283Thought
Henri PoincareAll that we can hope from these inspirations, which are the fruits of unconscious work, is to obtain points of departure for such calculations. As for the calculations themselves,… ▶251Hope
Henri PoincareHow is error possible in mathematics?273Truth
Henri PoincareIt 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 (2012). The Value of Sci… ▶296Reading
