--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To be exact has naught to do with…" description: "\"To be exact has naught to do with pedantry or dogma.\" — Leonora Speyer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7db/leonora-speyer-72251_dogma_to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedant_2123483.png" --- # To be exact has naught to do with pedantry or dogma. ![“To be exact has naught to do with pedantry or dogma.” quote by Leonora Speyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7db/leonora-speyer-72251_dogma_to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedant_2123483.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7db/leonora-speyer-72251_dogma_to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedant_2123483.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7db/leonora-speyer-72251_dogma_to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedant_2123483.png) > “To be exact has naught to do with pedantry or dogma.” [Leonora Speyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-speyer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Precision in language is distinct from pedantic or doctrinal rigidity; clarity matters. **In simple terms:** Exactness isn’t about being pedantic. Key Takeaway Focus on clear, purposeful expression. Themes communication precision clarity Mood analytical practical Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - academic writing - technical documentation - public speaking - editing Key Concepts linguistics philosophy of language writing Questions to Reflect On - When is exactness essential? - How to balance precision and flexibility? A Different Perspective May be misread as dismissing nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dogma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/) [Exact Naught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exact-naught-4343710/) [Naught Pedantry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/naught-pedantry-4343709/) [Pedantry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pedantry/) [Pedantry Dogma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pedantry-dogma-4343708/) ## Related quotes > [Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-polya/pedantry-and-mastery-are-opposite-attitudes-toward-rules-to-apply-a/) [George Polya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-polya/) > [Pedantry in learning is like hypocrisy inn religion--a form of knowledge without the power of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/pedantry-in-learning-is-like-hypocrisy-inn-religion-a-form-of/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [The brains of a pedant however full, are vacant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-fulke-greville/the-brains-of-a-pedant-however-full-are-vacant/) [Sir Fulke Greville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-fulke-greville/) > [ The most ingenious men are now agreed, that \[universities\] are only nurseries of prejudice, corruption, barbarism, and pedantry. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-berkeley/the-most-ingenious-men-are-now-agreed-that-universities-are-only/) [George Berkeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-berkeley/) > [“Serious men," "grave persons" and "reasonable people"; favorite locutions of our sad world where egotism takes its word of command from pedantry”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/serious-men-grave-persons-and-reasonable-people-favorite-locutions-of/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Pedantry, in the common acceptation of the word, means an absurd ostentation of learning, and stiffness of phraseology, proceeding from a misguided knowledge of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-mackenzie/pedantry-in-the-common-acceptation-of-the-word-means-an-absurd/) [Henry Mackenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-mackenzie/) > [The tone of good conversation is brilliant and natural; it is neither tedious nor frivolous; it is instructive without pedantry, gay without tumultuousness, polished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-tone-of-good-conversation-is-brilliant-and-natural-it-is-neither/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [Pedants make a great rout about criticism, as if it were a science of great depth, and required much pains and knowledge--criticism however is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-walpole/pedants-make-a-great-rout-about-criticism-as-if-it-were-a-science-of/) [Horace Walpole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-walpole/) > [Also, what mountains of dead ashes, wreck and burnt bones, does assiduous pedantry dig up from the past time and name it History.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/also-what-mountains-of-dead-ashes-wreck-and-burnt-bones-does/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Though pedantry denies, It's plain the Bible means That Solomon grew wise While talking with his queens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/though-pedantry-denies-it-s-plain-the-bible-means-that-solomon-grew/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Robespierre, this pedant of freedom!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-grillparzer/robespierre-this-pedant-of-freedom/) [Franz Grillparzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-grillparzer/) > [Pedantry can help financially, but not personally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/pedantry-can-help-financially-but-not-personally/) [Mak\_786](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mak-786/) > [Of course, we can distinguish between males and females; we can also, if we choose, distinguish between different age categories; but any more advanced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-houellebecq/of-course-we-can-distinguish-between-males-and-females-we-can-also-if/) [Michel Houellebecq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-houellebecq/) > [Pedantry and bigotry are millstones, able to sink the best book which carries the least part of their dead weight. The temper of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-ashley-cooper-7th-earl-of-shaftesbury/pedantry-and-bigotry-are-millstones-able-to-sink-the-best-book-which/) [Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-ashley-cooper-7th-earl-of-shaftesbury/) > [A taxonomy of abilities, like a taxonomy anywhere else in science, is apt to strike a certain type of impatient student as a gratuitous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-cattell/a-taxonomy-of-abilities-like-a-taxonomy-anywhere-else-in-science-is/) [Raymond Cattell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-cattell/) ## More by Leonora Speyer > [The trees are God's great alphabet: With them He writes in shining green Across the world His thoughts serene.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-speyer/the-trees-are-god-s-great-alphabet-with-them-he-writes-in-shining/) [Leonora Speyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-speyer/) > [Love has a hundred gentle ends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-speyer/love-has-a-hundred-gentle-ends/) [Leonora Speyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-speyer/) > [I believe in anthologies, although I know they offer only a glimpse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-speyer/i-believe-in-anthologies-although-i-know-they-offer-only-a-glimpse/) [Leonora Speyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-speyer/) [Explore all 4 Leonora Speyer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-speyer/) ## More Dogma quotes > [“The characteristics of this kind of reading are perhaps summed up in the word “orthodox,” which is almost always applicable. 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We must put question marks along many of our inherited legal dogmas, since they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-frank/increasingly-constructive-doubt-is-the-sign-of-advancing-civilization/) [Jerome Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-frank/) > [“The dogma of the impossibility of determining the atomic constitution of substances, which until recently was advocated with such fervor by the most able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-korner/the-dogma-of-the-impossibility-of-determining-the-atomic-constitution/) [Wilhelm Korner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-korner/) > [Hinduism... gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-aurobindo/hinduism-gave-itself-no-name-because-it-set-itself-no-sectarian/) [Sri Aurobindo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-aurobindo/) [Browse all 748 Dogma quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To be exact has naught to do with pedantry or dogma.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leonora Speyer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-speyer/to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedantry-or-dogma/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dogma" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-speyer/to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedantry-or-dogma/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7db/leonora-speyer-72251_dogma_to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedant_2123483.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7db/leonora-speyer-72251_dogma_to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedant_2123483.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7db/leonora-speyer-72251_dogma_to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedant_2123483.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To be exact has naught to do with pedantry or dogma.” — Leonora Speyer", "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": "Leonora Speyer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-speyer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "To be exact has naught to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-speyer/to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedantry-or-dogma/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-speyer/to-be-exact-has-naught-to-do-with-pedantry-or-dogma/#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 } } ] } ```