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Galileo probably would have escaped persecution if his discoveries could have been disproved.

Richard Whately

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Richard Whately
Age: 76 †
Born: 1787
Born: February 1
Died: 1863
Died: October 8
Economist
Philosopher
Priest
Theologian
London
England
Discovery
Probably
Would
Disproved
Galileo
Escaped
Discoveries
Persecution

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Sophistry, like poison, is at once detected and nauseated, when presented to us in a concentrated form but a fallacy which, when stated barely in a few sentences, would not deceive a child, may deceive half the world, if diluted in a quarto volume.
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The heathen mythology not only was not true, but was not even supported as true it not only deserved no faith, but it demanded none. The very pretension to truth, the very demand of faith, were characteristic distinctions of Christianity.
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No one complains of the rules of Grammar as fettering Language because it is understood that correct use is not founded on Grammar, but Grammar on correct use. A just system of Logic or of Rhetoric is analogous, in this respect, to Grammar.
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It is also important to guard against mistaking for good-nature what is properly good-humor,--a cheerful flow of spirits and easy temper not readily annoyed, which is compatible with great selfishness.
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The power of duly appreciating little things belongs to a great mind.
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Woman is like the reed which bends to every breeze, but breaks not in the tempest.
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Honesty is the best policy but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.
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Happiness is no laughing matter.
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Of all hostile feelings, envy is perhaps the hardest to be subdued, because hardly any one owns it even to himself, but looks out for one pretext after another to justify his hostility.
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Controversy, though always an evil in itself, is sometimes a necessary evil.
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To follow imperfect, uncertain, or corrupted traditions, in order to avoid erring in our own judgment, is but to exchange one danger for another.
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It is a remarkable circumstance in reference to cunning persons that they are often deficient not only in comprehensive, far-sighted wisdom, but even in prudent, cautious circumspection.
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As the flower is before the fruit, so is faith before good works.
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Some men's reputation seems like seed-wheat, which thrives best when brought from a distance.
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The first requisite of style, not only in rhetoric, but in all compositions, is perspicuity.
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It is a good plan, with a young person of a character to be much affected by ludicrous and absurd representations, to show him plainly by examples that there is nothing which may not be thus represented. He will hardly need to be told that everything is not a mere joke.
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A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor's.
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Men are like sheep, of which a flock is more easily driven than a single one.
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The happiest lot for a man, as far as birth is concerned, is that it should be such as to give him but little occasion to think much about it.
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Manners are one of the greatest engines of influence ever given to man.
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