Quotes from Umberto Eco

Crecer en las sombras es el privilegio de quien se dispone a conquistar el mundo

Las redes sociales le dan el derecho de hablar a legiones de idiotas que antes hablaban sólo en el bar después de un vaso de vino, sin dañar a la comunidad. Entonces eran rápidamente silenciados, pero ahora tienen el mismo derecho a hablar que un Premio Nobel. Es la invasión de los imbéciles

Creo que, a ciertas alturas, ya no hay diferencia entre acostumbrarse a fingir que se cree y acostumbrarse a creer

Gli uomini non fanno mai il male così completamente ed entusiasticamente come quando lo fanno per convinzione religiosa.

the more things you know, or pretend to know, the more powerful you are. It doesn't matter if things are true. What counts, remember, is to possess a secret.

I asked him who had put into the crowd's head the idea of attacking the Jews. Salvatore could not remember. I believe that when such crowds collect, lured by a promise and immediately demanding something, there is never any knowing who among them speaks.

RzeczywiÅ›cie, czÄ™sto siÄ™ zdarza, ?e idzie siÄ™ do biblioteki, bo chce siÄ™ ksi??kÄ™ o znanym tytule, ale gÅ'ównÄ… funkcjÄ… biblioteki, a przynajmniej funkcjÄ… biblioteki w moim domu i w domach wszystkich znajomych, jakich mo?emy odwiedza?, jest odkrywanie ksi??ek, których istnienia siÄ™ nie podejrzewaÅ'o, a które, jak siÄ™ okazuje, sÄ… dla nas niezwykle wa?ne.

Mas talvez naquele momento ele não tenha sido capaz de nenhum cálculo,o grito que lhe saiu da boca era o grito de sua alma e nele e com ele descarregava anos de longos e secretos remorsos.Ou seja,após uma vida de incertezas,entusiasmos e desilusões,vilezas e traições,posto diante da inelutabilidade de sua ruína,ele decidia professar a fé de sua juventude,sem mais perguntar se era justa ou errada,mas para mostrar a si mesmo que era capaz de alguma fé.

the environment is now transmitting less and less useful information, and more and more that is entirely useless. 2009

Thus God knows the world, because He conceived it in His mind, as if from the outside, before it was created, and we do not know its rule, because we live inside it, having found it already made.

Toda imagen estética está superada por las imágenes posibles que suscita, que abre. Sin embargo, no podría manifestarse ningún desvarío, porque la experiencia tiene lugar sobre y en el objeto.

there's nothing in this world that demands more caution than the truth. To tell the truth is like leeching one's own heart...

How clear everything becomes when you look from the darkness of a dungeon!

Hitler's one genuine obsession was the underground currents. He believed in the theory of the hollow earth, Hohlweltlehre.

A paradoxical consequence: hidden behind every false conspiracy there's perhaps a conspiracy by someone who stands to gain from presenting it as true.

Having reached the end of my poor sinner's life, my hair now white, I grow old as the world does, waiting to be lost in the bottomless pit of silent and deserted divinity, sharing in the light of angelic intelligences;

Es un hombre... extraño. -Es, o ha sido, en muchos aspectos, un gran hombre. Pero precisamente por eso es extraño. Sólo los hombres pequeños parecen normales.

The thing whose address I lost is not the End, it's the Beginning. Not the object to be possessed but the subject that possesses me. Misery

someone has mixed and shuffled the words of the Book more than was right.

They keep saying that their kingdom is not of this world, then take everything they can lay their hands on. Civilization will never reach perfection until the last stone of the last church has fallen on the last priest, and the earth is rid of that evil lot.

Nothing can dispel from my mind the most reassuring thought that this world is the creation of a shadowy god whose shadow I prolong. Faith leads to Absolute Optimism.

All I know about the Jews is what my grandfather taught me. They are the most godless people, he used to say. They start off from the idea that good must happen here, not beyond the grave. Therefore, they work only for the conquest of this world.

If there is something paradoxical, in the sense of curious or bizarre, it is that the word paradox has two fairly different meanings: one which is used in logic and philosophy, and the other in rhetoric.

a paradox would appear to be a maximum that looks false at first sight and, only after mature reflection, seems to express what the author believes to be true and, because of the hiatus between the expectations of popular opinion and its provocative form, also appears to be witty