You are always born under the wrong sign, and to live in this world properly you have to rewrite your own horoscope day by day. Umberto Eco More Quotes by Umberto Eco More Quotes From Umberto Eco There is only one thing that arouses animals more than pleasure, and that is pain. Under torture you are as if under the dominion of those grasses that produce visions. Everything you have heard told, everything you have read returns to your mind, as if you were being transported, not toward heaven, but toward hell. Under torture you say not only what the inquisitor wants, but also what you imagine might please him, because a bond (this, truly, diabolical) is established between you and him. Umberto Eco pain animal heaven I developed a passion for the Middle Ages the same way some people develop a passion for coconuts. Umberto Eco passion age people I write what I write. Umberto Eco writing In the United States, politics is a profession, whereas in Europe it is a right and a duty . Umberto Eco united-states duty europe Perhaps I am not as wise as I like to think I am. Umberto Eco wise thinking Every time that I write a novel I am convinced for at least two years that it is the last one, because a novel is like a child. It takes two years after its birth. You have to take care of it. It starts walking, and then speaking. Umberto Eco writing children years We are never racist against somebody who is very far away. I don't know any racism against the Eskimos. To have a racist feeling, there must be an other who is slightly different from us - but is living close to us. Umberto Eco racist racism feelings The only truths that are useful are instruments to be thrown away. Umberto Eco thrown instruments For, I must tell you, in this world where today all lose their minds over many & wondrous Machines - some of which, alas, you can see also in this Siege - I construct Aristotelian Machines, that allow anyone to see with Words. Umberto Eco machines mind world It takes a little time, but the pleasures of cooking begin before the pleasures of the palate, and preparing means anticipating. Umberto Eco cooking littles mean The Roseicrucians were everywhere, aided by the fact that they didn't exist. Umberto Eco facts My maternal grandmother - she was a compulsive reader. She had only been through five grades of elementary school, but she was a member of the municipal library, and she brought home two or three books a week for me. They could be dime novels or Balzac. Umberto Eco home book school A human best, which is very little. Its hard to accept the idea that there cannot be an order in the universe because it would offend the free will of God and His omnipotence. So the freedom of God is our condemnation, or at least the condemnation of our pride. Umberto Eco omnipotence pride order We are a pluralist civilisation because we allow mosques to be built in our countries, and we are not going to stop simply because Christian missionaries are thrown into prison in Kabul. If we did so, we too would become Taliban. Umberto Eco missionary christian country We invented the car, and it made it easier for us to crash and die. If I gave a car to my grandfather, he would die in five minutes, while I have grown up slowly to accept speed. Umberto Eco speed car grandfather When I went from being an academic to being a member of the community of writers some of my former colleagues did look on me with a certain resentment. Umberto Eco resentment community looks Memory is a stopgap for humans, for whom time flies and what is passed is passed. Umberto Eco time-flies humans memories Love flourishes in expectation. Expectation strolls through the spacious fields of Time towards Opportunity. Umberto Eco fields expectations opportunity National identity is the last bastion of the dispossessed. But the meaning of identity is now based on hatred, on hatred for those who are not the same. Umberto Eco lasts hatred identity I felt no passion, no jealousy, no nostalgia. I was hollow, clear-headed, clean, and as emotionless as an aluminum pot. Umberto Eco aluminum passion nostalgia
