Quotes by Henri Poincare

About Henri Poincare:

Jules Henri Poincaré is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as The Last Universalist by Eric Temple Bell, since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.

Henri Poincare

Hypotheses are what we lack the least.

Henri Poincare

Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.

Henri Poincare

Mathematicians do not study objects, but relations between objects.

Henri Poincare

Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.

Henri Poincare

It has adopted the geometry most advantageous to the species or, in other words, the most convenient.

Henri Poincare

Mathematicians are born, not made.

Henri Poincare

In the old days when people invented a new function they had something useful in mind.

Henri Poincare

How is an error possible in mathematics?

Henri Poincare

A sane mind should not be guilty of a logical fallacy, yet there are very fine minds incapable of following mathematical demonstrations.

Henri Poincare

Point set topology is a disease from which the human race will soon recover.

Henri Poincare

What is it indeed that gives us the feeling of elegance in a solution, in a demonstration?

Henri Poincare

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 Poincare

If 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 struck by the analogies existing.

Henri Poincare

Ideas rose in clouds; I felt them collide until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making a stable combination.

Henri Poincare

Invention consists in avoiding the constructing of useless contraptions and in constructing the useful combinations which are in infinite minority.

Henri Poincare

If that enabled us to predict the succeeding situation with the same approximation, that is all we require, and we should say that the phenomenon had been predicted, that it is governed by the laws.

Henri Poincare

Need we add that mathematicians themselves are not infallible?

Henri Poincare

No more than these machines need the mathematician know what he does.

Henri Poincare

Thus, they are free to replace some objects by others so long as the relations remain unchanged.

Henri Poincare

Absolute space, that is to say, the mark to which it would be necessary to refer the earth to know whether it really moves, has no objective existence.

Henri Poincare

Author Bio

  • NameHenri Poincare
  • Descriptionprominent French mathematician, physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science
  • AliasesJules Henri Poincaré; Poincaré
  • BornApril 29, 1854
  • DiedJuly 17, 1912
  • CountryFrance
  • ProfessionMathematician; Philosopher; Astronomer; Physicist; Engineer; Philosopher Of Science; Topologist
  • AwardsPoncelet Prize; Sylvester Medal; Commander Of The Legion Of Honour