Tolstoi 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 PoincareThe scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
Henri PoincareIt 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 PoincareAll that is not thought is pure nothingness; since we can think only thoughts, and all the words we use to speak of things can express only thoughts, to say there is something other than thought is therefore an affirmation which can have no meaning.
Henri Poincare