The scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do so. He studies it because he takes pleasure in it, and he takes pleasure in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and life would not be worth living.

Le savant n'étudie pas la nature parce que cela est utile; il l'étudie parce qu'il y prend plaisir et il y prend plaisir parce qu'elle est belle. Si la nature n'était pas belle, elle ne vaudrait pas la peine d'être connue, la vie ne vaudrait pas la peine d'être vécue.

Henri Poincaré

Science and Method

More information about this quote

Topic

Beauty of nature Nature

Author

Henri Poincaré

Source

Science and Method

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

French

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Occupation

Mathematician Philosopher Scientist

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Poincare, Henri. Science et methode [Science and Method]. Flammarion, 1914, bk. 1, ch. 3.

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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1900s

I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.

Muriel Strode

Wind-Wafted Wild Flowers

More information about this quote
Topic
Taking a different path

Author

Muriel Strode
Source
Wind-Wafted Wild Flowers
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1903 1900s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Strode, Muriel. "Wind-Wafted Wild Flowers." The Open Court, 1903.

Another quote about Nature

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the Lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I Love not Man the Less, but Nature more.

Lord Byron

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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More information about this quote
Topic
Spending time in nature Nature Solitude

Author

Lord Byron
Source
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1818 1810s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Lord Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. London: John Murray, 1812-1818, canto 4, st. 178.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." Lord Byron: The Major Works, edited by Jerome J. McGann. Oxford University Press, 2008, canto 4, st. 178.

Another quote originally in French

What a chimera then is man! What a novelty! What a monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, feeble earth-worn, depository of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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More information about this quote
Topic
Duality of man Nature of man

Author

Blaise Pascal
Source
Pensées
Medium
Epigram
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
French
Time
1670 1670s 17th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Pascal, Blaise. Pensées [Thoughts]. Paris: Chez G. Desprez, 1670, no. 4.

Current Citation

Pascal, Blaise. "Pensées." Pensées and Other Writings, edited by Anthony Levi, translated by Honor Levi. Oxford University Press, 2008, no. 4.