A first fact should surprise ...

A first fact should surprise us, or rather would surprise us if we were not used to it. How does it happen there are people who do not understand mathematics? If mathematics invokes only the rules of logic, such as are accepted by all normal minds...how does it come about that so many persons are here refractory?
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 Henri Poincare

Quotes from the same author

It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.
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 Henri Poincaré
It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.
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 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.... The two propositions: "The earth turns round" and "it is more convenient to suppose the earth turns round" have the same meaning; there is nothing more in the one than in the other.
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 Henri Poincare
Talk with M. Hermite. He never evokes a concrete image, yet you soon perceive that the more abstract entities are to him like living creatures.
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 Henri Poincare
Tolstoi explains somewhere in his writings why, in his opinion, Science for Science's sake is an absurd conception. We cannot know all the facts, since they are practically infinite in number. We must make a selection. Is it not better to be guided by utility, by our practical, and more especially our moral, necessities?
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 Henri Poincare