Quotes from Umberto Eco

We'll pass over that one . . . Anyway, I happen to know from a reliable source that those present at the signing of the contract," and here his voice fell to a whisper, "were Avvocato Riccardi and General Negri di Saint Front." "And who the hell are they?

Les perdants, comme les autodidactes, ont toujours des connaissances plus vastes que les gagnants, pour gagner il faut savoir une seule chose et ne pas perdre son temps à les connaître toutes. Le plaisir de l'érudition est réservé aux perdants.

Wenn ein Buch euch gehört und keinen antiquarischen Wert hat, dann unterstreicht es ruhig. Glaubt denen nicht, die behaupten, man müsse die Bücher respektieren. Bücher respektiert man dadurch, daß man sie benutzt, nicht dadurch, daß man sie nicht anrührt. Auch wenn ihr sie antiquarisch verkauft, bekommt ihr nur einen Pappenstiel - da könnt ihr ruhig die Spuren eures Besitzes in ihnen hinterlassen.

Los detallistas son unos paranoicos en su primer estadio.

Telle est la force du vrai qui, comme le bien, se diffuse de soi-même.

JednÄ… tylko rzecz pisze siÄ™ dla siebie i jest to lista zakupów. SÅ'u?y do zapamiÄ™tania, co masz kupi?, a kiedy ju? kupiÅ'eÅ›, mo?esz jÄ… podrze?, bo do niczego innego siÄ™ nie przyda. Wszystko inne piszesz, ?eby coÅ› komuÅ› powiedzie?.

Querido Adso, no conviene multiplicar las explicaciones y las causas mientras no haya estricta necesidad de hacerlo.

Verba vana aut risui apta non loqui (????? ??????, ? ??? ????????? ?????, ?? ?? ????????).

Todo se explica utilizando menor número de causas.

Gott ist ein lautes Nichts, ihn rührt kein Nun noch Hier. Tanr? kocaman bir hiçtir, ne ÅŸimdi ilgilendirir onu ne de buras?.

L'eroe Ur-Fascista gioca con le armi, che sono il suo Ersatz fallico: i suoi giochi di guerra sono dovuti a una invidia penis permanente.

En me retraçant ces détails, j'en suis à me demander s'ils sont réels, ou bien si je les ai rêvés.

There can be no failure if there really is a Plan. Defeated you may be, but never through any fault of your own. To bow to a cosmic will is no shame. You are not a coward; you are a martyr.

I won, but I might also have lost. The others believed me wise because I won, but they didn't know the many instances in which I have been foolish because I lost, and they didn't know that a few seconds before winning I wasn't sure I wouldn't lose.

If you fail to have an erection the first time, you're impotent for the rest of your life.

A German produces on average twice the feces of a Frenchman. Hyperactivity of the bowel at the expense of the brain, which demonstrates their physiological inferiority.

Gli Adepti del Velame ricordano qualcuno che sentendosi dire: Signore, lei è un ladro, mi creda!, reagisca con: Che cosa intende con 'mi creda'? Vuol forse insinuare che io sia diffidente?

4 El que trata de penetrar en la Rosaleda de los Filósofos sin la clave es como el hombre que pretenda caminar sin los pies. Michael Maier, Atalanta Fugiens, Oppenheim

Tal es la fuerza de la verdad, que, como la bondad, se difunde por sí misma.

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.

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.

The United States needed a civil war to unite properly.

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.

When one starts writing a book, especially a novel, even the humblest person in the world hopes to become Homer.