"The Church at the time of Galileo kept much more closely to reason than did Galileo himself, and she took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo's teaching too. Her verdict against Galileo was rational and just, and the revision of this verdict can be justified only on the grounds of what is politically opportune" (Paul Feyerabend)

"Most of Galileo's opponents [...] like Bellarmine, [...] agreed that the phenomena were in the sky but denied that they proved Galileo's contentions. In this, of course, they were quite right" (Thomas Kuhn)

"Logic was on the side of Osiander, Bellarmine and Urban VIII, not on the side of Kepler and Galileo. The former had understood the exact scope of the experimental method, and, in this respect, the latter were mistaken" (Pierre Duhem)