Henri Poincaré quotes

Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. (Henri Poincaré)
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
Henri Poincaré
Science is built up of 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 Poincaré
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.
Henri Poincaré
If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living.
Henri Poincaré
It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.
Henri Poincaré
Mathematical discoveries, small or great are never born of spontaneous generation.
Henri Poincaré
In the old days when people invented a new function they had something useful in mind.
Henri Poincaré
If we knew exactly the laws of nature and the situation of the universe at the initial moment, we could predict exactly the situation of the same universe at a succeeding moment.
Henri Poincaré
Need we add that mathematicians themselves are not infallible?
Henri Poincaré
A scientist worthy of his name, about all a mathematician, experiences in his work the same impression as an artist; his pleasure is as great and of the same nature. (Henri Poincaré)
Sociology is the science which has the most methods and the least results.
Henri Poincaré
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 Poincaré
Mathematicians are born, not made.
Henri Poincaré
It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.
Henri Poincaré
Thought must never submit, neither to a dogma, nor to a party, nor to a passion, nor to an interest, nor to a preconceived idea, nor to whatever it may be, save to the facts themselves, because, for thought, submission would mean ceasing to be.
Henri Poincaré
The mind uses its faculty for creativity only when experience forces it to do so.
Henri Poincaré
To invent is to discern, to choose.
Henri Poincaré
Doubting everything and believing everything are two equally convenient solutions that guard us from having to think.
Henri Poincaré
One would have to have completely forgotten the history of science so as to not remember that the desire to know nature has had the most constant and the happiest influence on the development of mathematics.
Henri Poincaré
Point set topology is a disease from which the human race will soon recover. (Henri Poincaré)
It 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 comprehend at once both the ensemble and the details.
Henri Poincaré
What is it indeed that gives us the feeling of elegance in a solution, in a demonstration?
Henri Poincaré
A sane mind should not be guilty of a logical fallacy, yet there are very fine minds incapable of following mathematical demonstrations.
Henri Poincaré
Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.
Henri Poincaré