"And who can doubt that it will lead to the worst disorders when minds created free by God are compelled to submit slavishly to an outside will? When we are told to deny our senses and subject them to the whim of others? When people devoid of whatsoever competence are made judges over experts and are granted authority to treat them as they please? These are the novelties which are apt to bring about the ruin of commonwealths and the subversion of the state."

Source: Galileo Galilei, Andrea Frova, Mariapiera Marenzana (2006). “Thus Spoke Galileo: The Great Scientist's Ideas and Their Relevance to the Present Day”, p.201, Oxford University Press