The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Umberto EcoRead
libraries are fascinating places: sometimes you feel you are under the canopy of a railway station, and when you read books about exotic places there's a feeling of travelling to distant lands
Interpretation
What this quote means
Libraries are a gateway to adventure and knowledge, transporting readers to new worlds through books.
Umberto Eco's quote reflects the magical essence of libraries, portraying them as spaces that transcend ordinary experiences. When one immerses themselves in literature, it creates an illusion of traveling to far-off places, showcasing the power of books to expand our horizons and spark our imaginations.
Themes
LibrariesBooksTravelKnowledgeImagination
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the importance of reading in schools, you can use this quote to emphasize how books transport us.
More from Umberto Eco
All quotes →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.
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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.
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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
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