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 PoincareTolstoi explains somewhere in his writings why, in his opinion, โScience for Science's sakeโ 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?
Henri PoincareIt may happen that small differences in the initial conditions produce very great ones in the final phenomena.
Henri PoincareAll the scientist creates in a fact is the language in which he enunciates it. If he predicts a fact, he will employ this language, and for all those who can speak and understand it, his prediction is free from ambiguity. Moreover, this prediction once made, it evidently does not depend upon him whether it is fulfilled or not.
Henri Poincare