--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Science is properly more scrupulous than…" description: "\"Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must ke..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/george-eliot-84_alive_science-is-properly-more-scrupulous-than_118560.png" --- # Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma… ![“Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/george-eliot-84_alive_science-is-properly-more-scrupulous-than_118560.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/george-eliot-84_alive_science-is-properly-more-scrupulous-than_118560.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/george-eliot-84_alive_science-is-properly-more-scrupulous-than_118560.png) > “Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.” [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science thrives on questioning and correcting errors, whereas dogma protects mistakes by refusing scrutiny. **In simple terms:** Science challenges errors; dogma shields them. Key Takeaway Critical inquiry is essential for truth. Themes science dogma mistake critical thinking Mood analytical inspirational Type philosophical scientific When to use this quote - academic research - policy making - public discourse Key Concepts philosophy of science epistemology Practical Applications - encourage peer review - question assumptions Questions to Reflect On - When might dogma be beneficial? - How can we balance skepticism with constructive progress? A Different Perspective Dogmatic frameworks can sometimes provide useful stability in uncertain contexts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) [Conscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscience/) [Dogma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Mistake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mistake/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [“Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/dogma-gives-a-charter-to-mistake-but-the-very-breath-of-science-is-a/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [The dogma is that that dogma is a mistake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/the-dogma-is-that-that-dogma-is-a-mistake/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [Nothing can save us from a perpetual headlong fall into a bottomless abyss but a solid footing of dogma; and we no sooner agree…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/nothing-can-save-us-from-a-perpetual-headlong-fall-into-a-bottomless/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [I don't have a dogma that gives me a compass, that occupies me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-zukerman/i-don-t-have-a-dogma-that-gives-me-a-compass-that-occupies-me/) [Ashley Zukerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-zukerman/) > [The Society is based on that great bottom law of human right, that nothing but crime can forfeit liberty. 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I've also done some gravity tests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/i-ve-used-the-phoenix-centrifuge-to-replicate-what-the-body-s-going/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) ## More by George Eliot > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-the-effect-of-her-being-on-those-around-her-was-incalculably/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Scepticismcan never be thoroughly applied, else life would come to a standstill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/scepticismcan-never-be-thoroughly-applied-else-life-would-come-to-a/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/under-every-guilty-secret-there-is-hidden-a-brood-of-guilty-wishes/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [The most powerful movement of feeling with a liturgy is the prayer which seeks for nothing special, but is a yearning to escape from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-most-powerful-movement-of-feeling-with-a-liturgy-is-the-prayer/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [ “\[W\]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves-to-the-discovery-that-some-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Mr. Casaubon had never had a strong bodily frame, and his soul was sensitive without being enthusiastic: it was too languid to thrill out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/mr-casaubon-had-never-had-a-strong-bodily-frame-and-his-soul-was/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“... she took her husband's jokes and joviality as patiently as everything else, considering that "men would be so", and viewing the stronger sex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/she-took-her-husband-s-jokes-and-joviality-as-patiently-as-everything/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [What is opportunity to the man who can't use it? An unfecundated egg, which the waves of time wash away into nonentity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/what-is-opportunity-to-the-man-who-can-t-use-it-an-unfecundated-egg/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/and-of-course-men-know-best-about-everything-except-what-women-know/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But let the wise be warned against too great readiness at explanation: it multiplies the sources of mistake, lengthening the sum for reckoners sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-let-the-wise-be-warned-against-too-great-readiness-at-explanation/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But any one watching keenly the stealthy convergence of human lots, sees a slow preparation of effects from one life on another, which tells…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-any-one-watching-keenly-the-stealthy-convergence-of-human-lots/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where human beings languish, may not become picturesque through aerial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/perspective-as-its-inventor-remarked-is-a-beautiful-thing-what/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Sane people did what their neighbours did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/sane-people-did-what-their-neighbours-did-so-that-if-any-lunatics/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [even those who call themselves 'intimate' know very little about each other - hardly ever know just how a sorrow is felt, and hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/even-those-who-call-themselves-intimate-know-very-little-about-each/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) [Explore all 1,492 George Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## More Alive quotes > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... 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It is a perpetual wound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-duffy/the-pain-of-love-is-the-pain-of-being-alive-it-is-a-perpetual-wound/) [Maureen Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-duffy/) > [I have tried to resign myself, and to console myself; and that, I hope, I may have done imperfectly; but what I cannot firmly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-have-tried-to-resign-myself-and-to-console-myself-and-that-i-hope-i/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [If Melanchthon were alive today, he might not weep because of controversies that surround the Lord's Supper, but he might well sorrow because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-w-lutzer/if-melanchthon-were-alive-today-he-might-not-weep-because-of/) [Erwin W. 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