When the properties of an ideal model have been worked out by rigorous mathematics, all the underlying assumptions being clearly understood, then it … - Arthur Eddington

The law that entropy always increases, holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.

Our model of Nature should not be like a building... for the populace to admire... until the edifice comes tumbling down. It should be like an engine with movable parts. ...[A]ny one lever ...is to be adjusted from time to time as the latest observations indicate. The aim of the theorist is to know the train of wheels which the lever sets in motion—that binding of the parts which is the soul of the engine.

Objections to religious mysticism lose their force if they can equally be turned against natural mysticism.