Umberto Eco

The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.

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.

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.

A book is a fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements and clumsy hands. so the librarian protects the books not only against mankind but also against nature and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion.

You die, but most of what you have accumulated will not be lost; you are leaving a message in a bottle.

The most interesting letters I received about 'The Name of the Rose' were from people in the Midwest that maybe didn't understand exactly, but wanted to understand more and who were excited by this picture of a world which was not their own.

There are more books in the world than hours in which to read them. We are thus deeply influenced by books we haven't read, that we haven't had the time to read.

One can be a great poet and be politically stupid.

Political satire is a serious thing. In democratic newspapers throughout the world there are daily cartoons that often are not even funny, as is the case especially in many English-language newspapers. Instead, they contain a political message, and the artist takes full responsibility.

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.

Followers of the occult believe in only what they already know, and in those things that confirm what they have already learned.

I was a fervent Catholic, and I belonged to the national organizations, even becoming one of the national leaders, until the age of 21, 22.

The function of memory is not only to preserve, but also to throw away. If you remembered everything from your entire life, you would be sick.

The question of manuscript changes is very important for literary criticism, the psychology of creation and other aspects of the study of literature.

Our most noted satirists are true columnists, and their opinions can be worth more than any well-documented expose.

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

From lies to forgeries the step is not so long, and I have written technical essays on the logic of forgeries and on the influence of forgeries on history.

Young people do not watch television; they are on the Internet.

Today, political events are nullified unless they're on TV.

I have to admit that I only read 'War and Peace' when I was 40. But I knew the basics before then.