The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Umberto EcoRead
When someone has to intervene to defend the liberty of the press, that society is sick.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that any need to defend press freedom indicates deeper societal issues.
Umberto Eco's quote implies that a healthy society should inherently respect and support the freedom of the press. When intervention is necessitated to protect this freedom, it points to underlying problems within the society that undermine democratic principles and civil liberties, marking a deterioration in societal health and integrity.
Themes
PressLibertySocietyInterventionFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on freedom of expression, one could reference this quote to emphasize the importance of protecting press liberties.
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All quotes βI 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.
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The lunatic is all idΓ©e 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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But the most obvious fact about praise β whether of God or anything β strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it.
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