It seems to me that it was well said by Madama Serenissima, and insisted on by your reverence, that the Holy Scripture cannot err, and that the decrees therein contained are absolutely true and inviolable. But I should have in your place added that, though Scripture cannot err, its expounders and interpreters are liable to err in many ways; and one error in particular would be most grave and most frequent, if we always stopped short at the literal signification of the words.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the infallibility of Holy Scripture while acknowledging that human interpretation can lead to errors, particularly when taken literally.
In this quote, Galileo Galilei articulates a critical perspective on the interpretation of Scripture. While he affirms that the text of the Holy Scripture is without error, he warns against the fallibility of its interpreters, who may misinterpret its meanings, especially if they adhere strictly to a literal interpretation without considering the broader context. This observation serves as a reminder that understanding complex truths often requires a deeper exploration beyond surface meanings.
In practice
During a lecture on religious texts, one might use this quote to illustrate the challenges of interpretation.
It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the measure of what nature can and knows how to do, since, when one comes down to it, there is not one effect in nature, no matter how small, that even the most speculative minds can fully understand.
We must say that there are as many squares as there are numbers.
Science proceeds more by what it has learned to ignore than what it takes into account.
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the letters in which it is composed.
That sculpture is more admirable than painting for the reason that it contains relief and painting does not is completely false. ... Rather, how much more admirable the painting must be considered, if having no relief at all, it appears to have as much as sculpture!
Here I and sorrows sit; Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.
It's very easy for trusted companies to mislead naive customers, and life insurance companies are trusted.
In every heart there is an inner room, where we can hold our greatest treasures and our deepest pain.
We try to organize the world, which isn't organized the way our brains want to organize it. We tell stories about the people in our lives, we project ideas onto them. We project relationships with people, we make our lives into stories. I don't think we can avoid doing that.
Please explain to me what being an icon is. How do you define it? I haven't been given a script. I don't know what the dialogues of an icon are.
There may be here and there a worker who for certain reasons unexplainable to us does not join a union of labor. That is his right. It is his legal right, no matter how morally wrong he may be. It is his legal right, and no one can or dare question his exercise of that legal right.
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