“It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.”

—  Henri Poincaré

Last update May 31, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover." by Henri Poincaré?
Henri Poincaré photo
Henri Poincaré 49
French mathematician, physicist, engineer, and philosopher … 1854–1912

Related quotes

Henri Poincaré photo

“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 book Science and Method

C'est par la logique qu'on démontre, c'est par l'intuition qu'on invente.
Part II. Ch. 2 : Mathematical Definitions and Education, p. 129
Science and Method (1908)

Rollo May photo

“The ancient Greeks, as Plato reports, believed that we discover truth through "reminiscence," that is by "remembering," by intuitively searching into our own experience.”

Rollo May (1909–1994) US psychiatrist

Source: Man’s Search for Himself (1953), p. 214

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan photo

“We invent by intuition, though we prove by logic.”

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) Indian philosopher and statesman who was the first Vice President and the second President of India

Eminent Indians (1947)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

The Pragmatics of Patriotism (1973)
Context: In this complex world, science, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and to wherever we are going. If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science.

“We are confronted with problems of organized complexity… organization runs through all levels of reality and science.”

Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901–1972) austrian biologist and philosopher

Source: 1960s, Robots, Men and Minds (1967), p. 58. as cited in: Doede Keuning (1973) Algemene systeemtheorie. p. 185

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan photo

“The art of discovery is confused with the logic of proof and an artificial simplification of the deeper movements of thought results. We forget that we invent by intuition though we prove by logic.”

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) Indian philosopher and statesman who was the first Vice President and the second President of India

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Gino Severini photo

“Before my encounter with Thomist philosophy through Maritain, I had almost reached the same conclusions through the logical development of my work, intuition and thought, but what a great sense of joy I felt upon discovering, in Maritain, the confirmation of certain thought patterns, certain ways of clarifying these to myself and to others.”

Gino Severini (1883–1966) Italian painter

Source: The Life of a Painter - autobiography', 1946, p. 289

Jim Al-Khalili photo

“For me, I think the greatest achievements of science is to allow humanity to realize that our world is comprehensible. Through science, rational thinking, we can understand how the universe works.”

Jim Al-Khalili (1962) British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster
Carl Sagan photo

“Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Carl Sagan, author interview
PT Staff
Psychology Today
1996
January
01
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199601/carl-sagan?page=3

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan photo

“If experience is the soul of religion, expression is the body through which it fulfills its destiny. We have the spiritual facts and their interpretations by which they are communicated to others. It is the distinction between immediacy and thought. Intuitions abide, while interpretations change.”

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) Indian philosopher and statesman who was the first Vice President and the second President of India

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Variant: We have spiritual facts and their interpretations by which they are communicated to others, sruti or what is heard, and smṛti or what is remembered. Śaṅkara equates them with pratyakṣa or intuition and anumana or inference. It is the distinction between immediacy and thought. Intuitions abide, while interpretations change.

Related topics