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Henri Poincaré
(29 Apr 1854 - 17 Jul 1912)
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Henri Poincaré Quotes on Truth (9 quotes)
>> Click for 95 Science Quotes by Henri Poincaré
>> Click for Henri Poincaré Quotes on | Definition | Fact | Mathematics | Mind | Science | Solution |
>> Click for 95 Science Quotes by Henri Poincaré
>> Click for Henri Poincaré Quotes on | Definition | Fact | Mathematics | Mind | Science | Solution |
Les faits scientifiques, et à fortiori, les lois sont l’œuvre artificielle du savant ; la science ne peut donc rien nous apprendre de la vérité, elle ne peut nous servir que de règle d’action.
The facts of science and, à fortiori, its laws are the artificial work of the scientist; science therefore can teach us nothing of the truth; it can only serve us as rule of action.
The facts of science and, à fortiori, its laws are the artificial work of the scientist; science therefore can teach us nothing of the truth; it can only serve us as rule of action.
— Henri Poincaré
By natural selection our mind has adapted itself to the conditions of the external world. It has adopted the geometry most advantageous to the species or, in other words, the most convenient. Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.
— Henri Poincaré
Every definition implies an axiom, since it asserts the existence of the object defined. The definition then will not be justified, from the purely logical point of view, until we have ‘proved’ that it involves no contradiction either in its terms or with the truths previously admitted.
— Henri Poincaré
Experience is the sole source of truth: it alone can teach us something new; it alone can give us certainty.
— Henri Poincaré
Experiment is the sole source of truth. It alone can teach us something new; it alone can give us certainty.
— Henri Poincaré
If 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 because it can give no happiness? Man, then, can not be happy through science but today he can much less be happy without it.
— Henri Poincaré
Sometimes truth frightens us. And in fact we know that it is sometimes deceptive, that it is a phantom never showing itself for a moment except to ceaselessly flee, that it must be pursued further and ever further without ever being attained. … Yet truth should not be feared, for it alone is beautiful.
— Henri Poincaré
While speaking, M. Bertrand is always in motion; now he seems in combat with some outside enemy, now he outlines with a gesture of the hand the figures he studies. Plainly he sees and he is eager to paint, this is why he calls gesture to his aid. With M. Hermite, it is just the opposite; his eyes seem to shun contact with the world; it is not without, it is within he seeks the vision of truth.
— Henri Poincaré
Without this language [mathematics] most of the intimate analogies of things would have remained forever unknown to us; and we should forever have been ignorant of the internal harmony of the world, which is the only true objective reality. …
This harmony … is the sole objective reality, the only truth we can attain; and when I add that the universal harmony of the world is the source of all beauty, it will be understood what price we should attach to the slow and difficult progress which little by little enables us to know it better.
This harmony … is the sole objective reality, the only truth we can attain; and when I add that the universal harmony of the world is the source of all beauty, it will be understood what price we should attach to the slow and difficult progress which little by little enables us to know it better.
— Henri Poincaré
See also:
- 29 Apr - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Poincaré's birth.
- The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincaré, by Henri Poincaré. - book suggestion.