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Zoologists maintain that the embryonic development of an animal recapitulates in brief the whole history of its ancestors throughout geologic time. It seems it is the same in the development of minds. The teacher should make the child go over the path his fathers trod; more rapidly, but without skipping stations. For this reason the history of science should be our first guide.

— Henri Poincaré Science and Method (1914)

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More quotes by Henri Poincaré

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Science and Hypothesis (1901)

The very possibility of the science of mathematics seems an insoluble contradiction.

Science and Hypothesis (1901)

The essential characteristic of reasoning by recurrence is that it contains, condensed, so to speak, in a single formula, an infinity of syllogisms.

Science and Hypothesis (1901)

There is no science apart from the general. It may even be said that the very object of the exact sciences is to spare us these direct verifications.

Science and Hypothesis (1901)

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.

Science and Method (1908)

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Theology is to-day recognised to be the instrument of myth, philosophy to be the instrument of science.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Henri Poincaré (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.