--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As a poet and as a mathematician, he…" description: "\"As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all.\" — Edgar Allan Poe" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/edgar-allan-poe-315_mathematician_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_3199929.jpg" --- # As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as… ![“As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all.” quote by Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/edgar-allan-poe-315_mathematician_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_3199929.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/edgar-allan-poe-315_mathematician_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_3199929.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/edgar-allan-poe-315_mathematician_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_3199929.jpg) > “As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all.” [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Balancing artistic intuition with logical rigor yields deeper insight; pure logic alone can miss creative nuance. **In simple terms:** Mix art and logic for richer understanding. Key Takeaway Blend creativity with analysis. Themes creativity logic interdisciplinary art mathematics Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - research - creative writing - problem solving - teaching - innovation Key Concepts Aesthetic philosophy cognitive synthesis Questions to Reflect On - How can you integrate artistic thinking into analytical work? - What risks arise from ignoring intuition? A Different Perspective Pure logic may overlook emotional depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mathematician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematician/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) ## Related quotes > [As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all, and thus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-would-reason-well-as-a-mere/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“In short, I never yet encountered the mere mathematician who could be trusted out of equal roots, or one who did not clandestinely hold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/in-short-i-never-yet-encountered-the-mere-mathematician-who-could-be/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“The difference between the poet and the mathematician is that the poet tries to get his head into the heavens while the mathematician tries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/the-difference-between-the-poet-and-the-mathematician-is-that-the/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Nobody is publicly accepted as an expert on poetry unless he displays the sign of poet, mathematician, etc., but universal men want no sign…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/nobody-is-publicly-accepted-as-an-expert-on-poetry-unless-he-displays/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [“What is needed is the imagination of the poet and the reasoning power of the mathematician. The thief of "The Purloined Letter" successfully hides…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-buranelli/what-is-needed-is-the-imagination-of-the-poet-and-the-reasoning-power/) Vincent Buranelli > [If you ask ... the man in the street ... the human significance of mathematics, the answer of the world will be, that mathematics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassius-jackson-keyser/if-you-ask-the-man-in-the-street-the-human-significance-of/) [Cassius Jackson Keyser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassius-jackson-keyser/) > [“Et peut-être la posterité me saura gré de lui avoir fait connaître que les Anciens n’ont pas tout su. ( And perhaps, posterity will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-de-fermat/et-peut-tre-la-posterit-me-saura-gr-de-lui-avoir-fait-conna-tre-que/) [Pierre De Fermat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-de-fermat/) > [Every man who is not a monster, a mathematician, or a mad philosopher, is the slave of some woman or other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/every-man-who-is-not-a-monster-a-mathematician-or-a-mad-philosopher/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Autism is a big continuum, going from someone who remains nonverbal, all the way up to geniuses on Silicon Valley. And some kids are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/autism-is-a-big-continuum-going-from-someone-who-remains-nonverbal/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [God is the original Mathematician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frenchqueen/god-is-the-original-mathematician/) Frenchqueen > [“I am a mathematician and I can confidently say that the best figure ever produced is your phone number.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/i-am-a-mathematician-and-i-can-confidently-say-that-the-best-figure/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-von-neumann/truth-is-much-too-complicated-to-allow-anything-but-approximations/) [John von Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-von-neumann/) > [Proof is an idol before which the mathematician tortures himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-eddington/proof-is-an-idol-before-which-the-mathematician-tortures-himself/) [Arthur Eddington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-eddington/) > [If enough money is involved and enough people believe that two plus two equals five the media will report the story with a straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/if-enough-money-is-involved-and-enough-people-believe-that-two-plus/) [Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/) > [“π is a mathematician’s dessert”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neve-maslakovic/is-a-mathematician-s-dessert/) Neve Maslakovic ## More by Edgar Allan Poe > [“From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were—I have not seen As others saw—I could not bring My passions from a common…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/from-childhood-s-hour-i-have-not-been-as-others-were-i-have-not-seen/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [There is no passion in nature so demoniacally impatient, as that of him who, shuddering upon the edge of a precipice, thus meditates a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/there-is-no-passion-in-nature-so-demoniacally-impatient-as-that-of/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/to-vilify-a-great-man-is-the-readiest-way-in-which-a-little-man-can/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“A skillful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents; but having conceived, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/a-skillful-literary-artist-has-constructed-a-tale-if-wise-he-has-not/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“For eyes we have no models in the remotely antique.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/for-eyes-we-have-no-models-in-the-remotely-antique/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/during-the-whole-of-a-dull-dark-and-soundless-day-in-the-autumn-of/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/those-who-dream-by-day-are-cognizant-of-many-things-that-escape-those/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish experiment—that of looking down within the tarn—had been to deepen the first singular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/i-have-said-that-the-sole-effect-of-my-somewhat-childish-experiment/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [And all my days are trances, And all my nightly dreams Are where thy dark eye glances, And where thy footstep gleams-- In what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/and-all-my-days-are-trances-and-all-my-nightly-dreams-are-where-thy/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“Other friends have flown before — On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.” Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/other-friends-have-flown-before-on-the-morrow-he-will-leave-me-as-my/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“To the right and left, as far as the eye could reach, there lay outstretched, like ramparts of the world, lines of horridly black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/to-the-right-and-left-as-far-as-the-eye-could-reach-there-lay/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [Men die nightly in their beds, wringing the hands of ghostly confessors ... on account of the hideousness of mysteries which will not suffer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/men-die-nightly-in-their-beds-wringing-the-hands-of-ghostly/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [And the Raven, never flitting, Still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas Just above my chamber door; And his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/and-the-raven-never-flitting-still-is-sitting-still-is-sitting-on-the/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/i-was-forced-to-fall-back-upon-the-unsatisfactory-conclusion-that/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but i feel the bright…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/for-the-moon-never-beams-without-bringing-me-dreams-of-the-beautiful/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) [Explore all 615 Edgar Allan Poe quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) ## More Mathematician quotes > [“π is a mathematician’s dessert”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neve-maslakovic/is-a-mathematician-s-dessert/) Neve Maslakovic > [If enough money is involved and enough people believe that two plus two equals five the media will report the story with a straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/if-enough-money-is-involved-and-enough-people-believe-that-two-plus/) [Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/) > [Proof is an idol before which the mathematician tortures himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-eddington/proof-is-an-idol-before-which-the-mathematician-tortures-himself/) [Arthur Eddington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-eddington/) > [Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-von-neumann/truth-is-much-too-complicated-to-allow-anything-but-approximations/) [John von Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-von-neumann/) > [“I am a mathematician and I can confidently say that the best figure ever produced is your phone number.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/i-am-a-mathematician-and-i-can-confidently-say-that-the-best-figure/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [God is the original Mathematician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frenchqueen/god-is-the-original-mathematician/) Frenchqueen > [Autism is a big continuum, going from someone who remains nonverbal, all the way up to geniuses on Silicon Valley. And some kids are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/autism-is-a-big-continuum-going-from-someone-who-remains-nonverbal/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [Every man who is not a monster, a mathematician, or a mad philosopher, is the slave of some woman or other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/every-man-who-is-not-a-monster-a-mathematician-or-a-mad-philosopher/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Et peut-être la posterité me saura gré de lui avoir fait connaître que les Anciens n’ont pas tout su. ( And perhaps, posterity will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-de-fermat/et-peut-tre-la-posterit-me-saura-gr-de-lui-avoir-fait-conna-tre-que/) [Pierre De Fermat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-de-fermat/) > [If you ask ... the man in the street ... the human significance of mathematics, the answer of the world will be, that mathematics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassius-jackson-keyser/if-you-ask-the-man-in-the-street-the-human-significance-of/) [Cassius Jackson Keyser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassius-jackson-keyser/) > [As for mathematicians themselves: don't expect too much help. Most of them are too far removed in their ivory towers to take up such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/apostolos-doxiadis/as-for-mathematicians-themselves-don-t-expect-too-much-help-most-of/) [Apostolos Doxiadis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/apostolos-doxiadis/) > [Being a mathematician is a bit like being a manic depressive: you spend your life alternating between giddy elation and black despair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-g-krantz/being-a-mathematician-is-a-bit-like-being-a-manic-depressive-you/) Steven G. Krantz > [In mathematics, if I find a new approach to a problem, another mathematician might claim that he has a better, more elegant solution. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emanuel-lasker/in-mathematics-if-i-find-a-new-approach-to-a-problem-another/) [Emanuel Lasker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emanuel-lasker/) > [Some humans are mathematicians-others aren't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-goodall/some-humans-are-mathematicians-others-aren-t/) [Jane Goodall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-goodall/) > [No form of art repeats or imitates successfully all that can be said by another; the writer conveys his experience of life along a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/storm-jameson/no-form-of-art-repeats-or-imitates-successfully-all-that-can-be-said/) [Storm Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/storm-jameson/) [Browse all 676 Mathematician quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematician/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edgar Allan Poe" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-would-reason-well-as-a-mere-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Mathematician" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-would-reason-well-as-a-mere-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/edgar-allan-poe-315_mathematician_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_3199929.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/edgar-allan-poe-315_mathematician_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_3199929.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/edgar-allan-poe-315_mathematician_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_3199929.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned…” — Edgar Allan Poe", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Edgar Allan Poe", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As a poet and as a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-would-reason-well-as-a-mere-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-would-reason-well-as-a-mere-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```