I vividly remember the stories my grandfather told me about the carnage of the First World War, which people tend to forget was one of the worst massacres in human history.

I prefer insomnia to anaesthesia.

It's the job of intellectuals and writers to cast doubt on perfection.

I live quietly at home among my family and friends.

But democracy isn't a state of perfection. It has to be improved, and that means constant vigilance.

People with lots of doubts sometimes find life more oppressive and exhausting than others, but they're more energetic - they aren't robots.

But I don't think I have any particular talent for prediction, because when you have three or four elements in hand, you don't have to be a genius to reach certain conclusions.

There are some fundamental values it's impossible to be wrong about.

Eco sees the intellectual as an organizer of culture, someone who can run a magazine or a museum. An administrator, in fact. I think this is a melancholy situation for an intellectual.

Perfection spawns doctrines, dictators and totalitarian ideas.

I don't want to promote my own image either. I don't like going on television or mixing in literary circles.

It is easier to convert your time into products when you move away from any distractions.

First, create your ego. Then destroy it. This is all of life.

Goals want to be realized as soon as they're created.

The flocks fear the wolf the crops the storm and the trees the wind.

Maybe the most that you can expect from a relationship that goes bad is to come out of it with a few good songs.

You can look at a monkey and see that there is more than a five percent difference in DNA.

The camera is an extension of yourself... Your story treatment may be subjective, but it is important to remain objective as to truth.

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

I like my freedom. I like to do my own grocery shopping.

We learn as much from sorrow as from joy, as much from illness as from health, from handicap as from advantage and indeed perhaps more.