Not long ago, if you wanted to seize political power in a country you had merely to control the army and the police. Today it is only in the most bac…

- Umberto Eco

Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them.

- Umberto Eco

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means.

- Umberto Eco

Love is wiser than wisdom.

- Umberto Eco

The wise man does not discriminate; he gathers all the shreds of light, from wherever they may come.

- Umberto Eco

If you interact with things in your life, everything is constantly changing. And if nothing changes, you're an idiot.

- Umberto Eco

There are four types: the cretin, the imbecile, the stupid and the mad. Normality is a balanced mixture of all four.

- Umberto Eco

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.

- Umberto Eco

Absence is to love as wind is to fire: it extinguishes the little flame, it fans the big.

- Umberto Eco