I think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation. But later in life good poets burn their early poetry, and bad poets publish it. Thankfully I gave up rather quickly.
Umberto EcoRead
The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Enlightenment marked a shift toward reason and rationality, but some argue it also led to moral decline.
Umberto Eco's remark reflects the duality of the Enlightenment era, which emphasized reason and scientific inquiry, leading to advancements in human thought and liberty. However, Eco suggests that this very emphasis on rationality might have paved the way for moral and ethical challenges, asserting that the quest for knowledge can coexist with significant moral dilemmas, hinting at a paradox in the progress of society.
Themes
EnlightenmentReasonDepravityMoralityProgress
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing the moral implications of scientific advancements at a conference.
More from Umberto Eco
All quotes →But why do some people support [the heretics]?" "Because it serves their purposes, which concern the faith rarely, and more often the conquest of power." "Is that why the church of Rome accuses all its adversaries of heresy?" "That is why, and that is also why it recognizes as orthodoxy any heresy it can bring back under its own control or must accept because the heresy has become too strong.
Umberto EcoRead
You die, but most of what you have accumulated will not be lost; you are leaving a message in a bottle.
Umberto EcoRead
"Then we are living in a place abandoned by God," I said, disheartened. "Have you found any places where God would have felt at home?" William asked me, looking down from his great height.
Umberto EcoRead
The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars.
Umberto EcoRead
The thought that all experience will be lost at the moment of my death makes me feel pain and fear... What a waste, decades spent building up experience, only to throw it all away... We remedy this sadness by working. For example, by writing, painting, or building cities.
Umberto EcoRead
Similar quotes
The spells are made up. I have met people who assure me, very seriously, that they are trying to do them, and I can assure them, just as seriously, that they don’t work.
J. K. RowlingRead
No one hath seen beauty in its highest lustre who hath never seen it in distress.
Henry FieldingRead
There is a place called ‘heaven’ where the good here unfinished is completed; and where the stories unwritten, and the hopes unfulfilled, are continued. We may laugh together yet.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
And in that fraction of a second before anything actually happened, Santino Corleone knew he was a dead man.
Mario PuzoRead
Take away the cause, and the effect ceases.
Miguel De CervantesRead
The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike...Unless we return to the crude and nursery-like belief in objective values, we perish.
C. S. LewisRead