“Is there a notion of hope (and of our responsibility to the future) that could be shared by believers and nonbelievers? What can it be based on now? Does an idea of the end, one that does not imply disinterest in the future but rather a constant examination of the errors of the past, have a critical fun”
Umberto Eco“The people of God cannot be changed until the outcasts are restored to its body.”
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose“When the poet is in love, he is incapable of writing poetry on love. He has to write when he remembers that he was in love.”
Umberto Eco“Poetry is not a matter of feelings, it is a matter of language. It is language which creates feelings.”
Umberto Eco“In the United States there's a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries, in Catholic countries, a successful person is a sinner.”
Umberto Eco“I have to admit that I only read 'War and Peace' when I was 40. But I knew the basics before then.”
Umberto Eco“Musical compositions can be very sad - Chopin - but you have the pleasure of this sadness. The cheap consolation is: you will be happy. The higher consolation is the pleasure and recognition of your unhappiness, the pleasure of having recognised that fate, destiny and life are such as they are and so you reach a higher form of consciousness.”
Umberto Eco“But now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.”
Umberto Eco“History is rich with adventurous men, long on charisma, with a highly developed instinct for their own interests, who have pursued personal power - bypassing parliaments and constitutions, distributing favours to their minions, and conflating their own desires with the interests of the community.”
Umberto Eco“Captain Cook discovered Australia looking for the Terra Incognita. Christopher Columbus thought he was finding India but discovered America. History is full of events that happened because of an imaginary tale.”
Umberto Eco