--- 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, and thus would have been at the mer..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c15/edgar-allan-poe-315_compassion_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_2728635.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, and thus would have been at the mercy of the Prefect” quote by Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c15/edgar-allan-poe-315_compassion_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_2728635.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c15/edgar-allan-poe-315_compassion_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_2728635.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c15/edgar-allan-poe-315_compassion_as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-woul_2728635.jpg) > “As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all, and thus would have been at the mercy of the Prefect” [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. A poet‑mathematician blends creativity and logic; a pure mathematician lacks poetic insight, becoming vulnerable. **In simple terms:** Mix art and math for balanced reasoning. Key Takeaway Combine imagination with analysis. Themes creativity logic interdisciplinarity vulnerability Mood inspired thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - problem solving - educational curricula - research collaboration Key Concepts Aesthetic reasoning mathematical rigor humanistic perspective Questions to Reflect On - How does poetry influence your analytical work? - Can math benefit from artistic thinking? A Different Perspective Pure logic may miss emotional nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Compassion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compassion/) [Mathematician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematician/) [Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets/) [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.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/as-a-poet-and-as-a-mathematician-he-would-reason-well-as-a-mere-2/) [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 > [Exact science and its practical movements are no checks on the greatest poet, but always his encouragement and support ... The sailor and traveller,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/exact-science-and-its-practical-movements-are-no-checks-on-the/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [“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. 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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 Compassion quotes > [Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/half-the-misery-of-human-life-might-be-extinguished-if-men-would/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [“I fight with love and kindness as my weapons and compassion as my defense.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debasish-mridha/i-fight-with-love-and-kindness-as-my-weapons-and-compassion-as-my/) [Debasish Mridha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debasish-mridha/) > [I really enjoy making people laugh; I've discovered that's a great technique. 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That's how we'll make the move, to reform from rude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/helpers-in-every-corner-helpers-in-every-hood-that-s-how-we-ll-make/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [There are a number of qualities which are important for mental peace, but from the little experience I have, I believe that one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/there-are-a-number-of-qualities-which-are-important-for-mental-peace/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [May the gods have mercy on whoever pisses them off, because Zarek and Jericho will have none for them. 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