"Stop standing there like a stuffed dummy" (Simile)
In the third scene of the play, Galileo and his friend Sagredo get into an argument about his findings. While Sagredo wants Galileo to be more discreet about his discovery, fearing what will happen when they become public, Galileo cannot believe that his good friend is trying to diminish the importance of what he has found. In his feeling of betrayal, he compares Sagredo to a "stuffed dummy when the truth has been found out." He alludes to Sagredo's lack of passion and excitement that such an exciting discovery has been made.
"A man like me can only get a halfway decent job by crawling on his belly." (Metaphor)
In that same argument between Galileo and Sagredo, Galileo shows Sagredo a letter he has written to the Grand Duke, which is very subservient. Galileo tells his friend that the only way he will be able to get anywhere with his studies if he is excessively supplicant to those who have power over him, using the metaphor of crawling on his stomach to show how much he must debase himself in order to appease his superiors.
"Faced with the stars we are like dull-eyed worms that can hardly see at all." (Simile)
When Galileo says that humans are just “like dull-eyed worms that can hardly see at all" when examining astronomy, he uses a simile to show just how small and inconsequential human beings are in relation to space and the vast unknowable. He tries to put his own discoveries in perspective, alluding to the fact that even small discoveries are minute in comparison to the vastness of the universe.
"Men, animals, plants, and the kingdoms of the earth get packed on a cart and driven in a circle round an empty sky." (Metaphor)
The scholars discuss Galileo's findings, and "The Very Thin Monk" compares his conception of how the earth moves to an aimless and hopeless crowded carriage ride. He uses this metaphor to discredit Galileo's research, to show that it is an undignified image of heaven and earth.
"This place is getting like a pigeon loft." (Simile)
A lot of visitors come to Galileo’s place to have a look at his telescope and the discoveries he has made. The traffic coming in and out is so impressive that Andrea begins using this simile to describe it, comparing the small study to a place where pigeons nest, and comparing the visitors to pigeons.
