A simple argument is presented to make plausible the theorem that a homogeneous dielectric placed in a uniform external field is uniformly polarized only if its shape is ellipsoidal. Expressions for the depolarization factors are displayed in a form which makes immediately apparent the well‐known sum rule. An additional symmetry relation between the depolarization factors is used to write integral expressions for them. It is shown that these factors reduce to the standard form. Neither Dirichlet’s integral representation nor ellipsoidal coordinates are used in this derivation.