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Father Christopher Clavius
Sagredo is a minor character who serves as a “canary in the coal mine” for Galileo. He does this by reminding the astronomer of the real-world consequences of his theories, which include, among other things, the possibility of being burned at stake. Sagredo is nevertheless an intellectually curious character who is willing to accept Galileo’s ideas with sufficient proof.
Sagredo Quotes in The Life of Galileo
The The Life of Galileo quotes below are all either spoken by Sagredo or refer to Sagredo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Scene 2 Quotes
I'm telling you astronomy has stagnated for the last thousand years because they had no telescope.
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Galileo has begun to use the telescope to find out new things about the universe. In doing so, he’s realized that a lot of accepted scientific knowledge is wrong. The logic of this sentence is somewhat standard: you could easily say that any field has been stagnant up until its latest breakthrough was unveiled. But Galileo doesn’t simply say that his field has been stagnant recently; he says it’s been stagnant for a thousand years. Given that Galileo lived in the 1500s, this means that only the most basic observations of astronomy (those made with the naked eye) have any Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste.
Scene 3 Quotes
What you're seeing is the fact that there is no difference between heaven and earth. Today is 10 January 1610. Today mankind can write in its diary: Got rid of Heaven.
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Still discussing his discoveries with Sagredo, Galileo is now prepared to say outright that the Earth revolves around the Sun. This has the unfortunate consequence of eliminating heaven, the place in which God is said to physically live. Though he is a committed believer, Galileo’s brashness here clearly shows that his faith lies more with God than with Church doctrine. Tearing down this important tenet of the Church’s belief is just a mere side-note in mankind’s diary for him. “Got rid of Heaven” isn’t Galileo’s own phrase; it’s an invention of Brecht’s. It mimics a famous phrase from German philosopher Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor a
[T]he horny-handed old woman who gives her mule an extra bundle of hay on the eve of a journey, the sea captain who allows for storms and doldrums when laying in stores, the child who puts on his cap once they have convinced
him that it may rain: these are the people I pin my hopes to, because they all accept proof. Yes, I believe in reason's gentle tyranny over people. Sooner or later they have to give in to it.
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Galileo brushes away Sagredo’s concerns that debunking Aristotle will cause trouble. Galileo’s constant refrain has been that he believes in the reason of man. Here (though he doesn’t come right out and say it) he shows that he believes most in the reason of common men and women. It’s almost as if Galileo is saying that he can’t expect procurators and priests to use their reason, but he knows that average people will. Procurators and priests, after all, have all the power in the world. They don’t have to give in to anything (or question themselves, even when presented with Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Pro
Copernicus, don't forget, wanted them to believe his figures; but I only want them to believe their eyes.
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Copernicus was the first to posit the planetary system that Galileo proved with his telescope, but because Copernicus lacked any way to prove it observationally (he could prove it only through mathematical models) he wasn’t taken seriously. This sets up a special problem. Copernicus could prove his system mathematically (through his “figures”), but most people couldn’t read, let alone understand the mathematics involved. In this way, his figures were simply marks that claimed to explain how things worked—few people could understand them, and everyone else had to just take Copernicus at his word. The Church, however, didn’t want anyone to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessita
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Sagredo Character Timeline in The Life of Galileo
The timeline below shows where the character Sagredo appears in The Life of Galileo. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene 2
Galileo doesn’t have much interest in these festivities, he tells his friend Sagredo, even though the telescope has made him money (including securing his raise from the university)....
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Scene 3
Galileo and Sagredo are looking through his telescope at the moon. Sagredo struggles to understand what he’s seeing,...
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Sagredo asks if Galileo knew about the Dutch telescopes beforehand. Galileo confirms that he did, but...
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The two men return to the telescope, though Sagredo admits that he’s scared to see what else Galileo will show him. They look at...
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By way of explaining, Sagredo asks Galileo where God is if He’s not in the Heavens, which angers Galileo. Galileo...
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...tells Virginia that he’s written to the Grand Duke of Florence, asking for a job. Sagredo bristles at this, because Florence is run by monks who will not accept Galileo’s attacks...
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