--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The crime of inquiry is one which…" description: "\"The crime of inquiry is one which religion never has forgiven.\" — Percy Bysshe Shelley" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/percy-bysshe-shelley-476_crime_the-crime-of-inquiry-is-one-which-religi_1399868.jpg" --- # The crime of inquiry is one which religion never has… ![“The crime of inquiry is one which religion never has forgiven.” quote by Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/percy-bysshe-shelley-476_crime_the-crime-of-inquiry-is-one-which-religi_1399868.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/percy-bysshe-shelley-476_crime_the-crime-of-inquiry-is-one-which-religi_1399868.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/percy-bysshe-shelley-476_crime_the-crime-of-inquiry-is-one-which-religi_1399868.jpg) > “The crime of inquiry is one which religion never has forgiven.” [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Critiques religion’s intolerance toward questioning and inquiry. **In simple terms:** Religion often punishes questioning. Key Takeaway Encourage free inquiry despite dogma. Themes religion inquiry freedom intolerance philosophy Mood thoughtful serious Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - journalism - education reform - public debate - personal belief systems Key Concepts skepticism humanism ontological critique Questions to Reflect On - How can societies protect both belief and inquiry? - What role does doubt play in faith? A Different Perspective Some faiths embrace questioning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Forgiveness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiveness/) [Inquiry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inquiry/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Research](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/research/) ## Related quotes > [One of the great benefits of organised religion is that you can be forgiven your sins, which must be a wonderful thing. 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By inquiry we come to Truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-abelard/by-doubting-we-come-to-inquiry-by-inquiry-we-come-to-truth/) [Peter Abelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-abelard/) > [The inquiry into Nature having thus been pursued nearly two thousand years theologically, we find by the middle of the sixteenth century some promising…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-dickson-white/the-inquiry-into-nature-having-thus-been-pursued-nearly-two-thousand/) [Andrew Dickson White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-dickson-white/) > [What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/what-the-world-needs-is-not-dogma-but-an-attitude-of-scientific/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [The greater the interest involved in a truth the more careful, self-distrustful, and patient should be the inquiry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/the-greater-the-interest-involved-in-a-truth-the-more-careful-self/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [The more we study the more we discover our ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/the-more-we-study-the-more-we-discover-our-ignorance/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [Only by being suspended aloft, by dangling my mind in the heavens and mingling my rare thought with the ethereal air, could I ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristophanes/only-by-being-suspended-aloft-by-dangling-my-mind-in-the-heavens-and/) [Aristophanes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristophanes/) > [It is by losing himself in the objective, in inquiry, creation, and craft, that a man becomes something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/it-is-by-losing-himself-in-the-objective-in-inquiry-creation-and/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-c-grayling/to-read-is-to-fly-it-is-to-soar-to-a-point-of-vantage-which-gives-a/) [A.C. 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I bleed !”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/i-fall-upon-the-thorns-of-life-i-bleed/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [“Poets and philosophers are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/poets-and-philosophers-are-the-unacknowledged-legislators-of-the-world/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [Dar'st thou amid the varied multitude To live alone, an isolated thing?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/dar-st-thou-amid-the-varied-multitude-to-live-alone-an-isolated-thing/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [Spirit of BEAUTY, that dost consecrate With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon Of human thought or form, where art thou gone?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/spirit-of-beauty-that-dost-consecrate-with-thine-own-hues-all-thou/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [I love tranquil solitude, And such society As is quiet, wise, and good; Between thee and me What difference? but thou dost possess The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/i-love-tranquil-solitude-and-such-society-as-is-quiet-wise-and-good/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [The practice of utter sincerity towards other men would avail to no good end, if they were incapable of practising it towards their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/the-practice-of-utter-sincerity-towards-other-men-would-avail-to-no/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow claspest the limits of mortality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/thou-shoreless-flood-which-in-thy-ebb-and-flow-claspest-the-limits-of/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [Senseless is the breast and cold Which relenting love would fold; Bloodless are the veins and chill Which the pulse of pain did fill;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/senseless-is-the-breast-and-cold-which-relenting-love-would-fold/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) [Explore all 533 Percy Bysshe Shelley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) ## More Crime quotes > [Joking about violence is not funny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/perez-hilton/joking-about-violence-is-not-funny/) [Perez Hilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/perez-hilton/) > [“Crime and punishment can be summed up in two classifications: there are bad people and there are people who get into bad situations. 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