The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Umberto EcoRead
What did I really think fifteen years ago? A nonbeliever, I felt guilty in the midst of all those believers. And since it seemed to me that they were in the right, I decided to believe, as you might decide to take an aspirin: It can't hurt and you might get better.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the choice to believe for comfort, even without true conviction.
Umberto Eco's quote explores the complexity of belief and how individuals may adopt faith not from genuine conviction, but rather from a desire for belonging or relief from guilt. It suggests that people might choose to embrace belief systems similarly to how one might take medicine—hoping for a positive outcome without fully understanding or feeling the need for it.
Themes
BeliefFaithGuiltComfortConviction
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the role of faith in society, this quote can be used to illustrate how some people might adopt beliefs superficially.
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.
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"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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