“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 Poincaré , book Science and Hypothesis

Source: Science and Hypothesis (1901), Ch. IX: Hypotheses in Physics, Tr. George Bruce Halsted (1913)
Context: The Scientist must set in order. 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.

Original

Le savant doit ordonner; on fait la science avec des faits comme une maison avec des pierres; mais une accumulation de faits n’est pas plus une science qu’un tas de pierres n’est une maison.

La Science et l'Hypothèse, 1902

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Henri Poincaré 49
French mathematician, physicist, engineer, and philosopher … 1854–1912

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