but I had also learned that freedom of speech means freedom from rhetoric. Umberto Eco More Quotes by Umberto Eco More Quotes From Umberto Eco That day, I began to be incredulous. Or, rather, I regretted having been credulous. I regretted having allowed myself to be borne away by a passion of the mind. Such is credulity. Umberto Eco credulitypassionmind The French, the Italians, the Germans, the Spanish and the English have spent centuries killing each other. Umberto Eco killing-each-othercenturykilling Even today, I frequently meet scientists who, outside their own narrow discipline, are superstitious. Umberto Eco scientistdisciplinetoday Because of lies, we can produce and invent a possible world. Umberto Eco producelyingworld Beauty is boring because it is predictable. Umberto Eco predictableboring I started to work in television for three or four years, in 1954. There was one channel of television, black and white. But it could be entertaining and educational. During the evening they showed important plays, opera or Shakespeare's tragedies. Umberto Eco black-and-whiteeducationalyears I think every professor and writer is in some way an exhibitionist because his or her normal activity is a theatrical one. When you give a lesson the situation is the same as writing a book. You have to capture the attention, the complicity of your audience. Umberto Eco writingbookthinking It is a myth of publishers that people want to read easy things. Umberto Eco easywantpeople As an adolescent I wrote comic books, because I read lots of them, and fantasy novels set in Malaysia and Central Africa. Umberto Eco fantasy-novelscomicbook It is sometimes hard to grasp the difference between identifying with one's own roots, understanding people with other roots, and judging what is good or bad. Umberto Eco differencesrootspeople Creativity can only be anarchic, capitalist, Darwinian. Umberto Eco capitalistcreativity Entering a novel is like going on a climb in the mountains: You have to learn the rhythms of respiration - acquire the pace. Otherwise you stop right away. Umberto Eco enteringmountainpace Better reality than a dream: if something is real, then it's real and you're not to blame. Umberto Eco blamerealdream We have a limit, a very discouraging, humiliating limit: death. Umberto Eco discouraginghumiliatinglimits People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged. Umberto Eco tiredsimplepeople Followers of the occult believe in only what they already know, and in those things that confirm what they have already learned. Umberto Eco occultfollowersbelieve I don't want to write a novel per year. I know that I need a break of one or two years. So maybe I invent some new, urgent activity so I don't fall into the trap of starting a new novel. Umberto Eco writingyearsfall Homer's work hits again and again on the topos of the inexpressible. People will always do that. Umberto Eco again-and-againpeople Our most noted satirists are true columnists and their opinions can be worth more than any well-documented exposé. Umberto Eco columnistswellsopinion One can be a great poet and be politically stupid. Umberto Eco great-poetpoetstupid
