Literature is my life of course, but from an ontological point of view. From an existential point of view, I like being a teacher.

I prefer insomnia to anaesthesia.

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.

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.

Making each day count like it's your last day to fulfill your dreams, is unarguably the master key to a future full of great rewards.

Music is really driving my whole life.

In a sane, civil, intelligent and moral society, you don't blame poor people for being poor.

Outsider means "I will accept the possibility that I don't have responsibility for what is happening inside my domain."

Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known?

I don't believe in collective guilt. The children of killers are not killers, but children.

The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing politicians with those poor, underestimated creatures.

I've always been this strong-willed person and I've always been in love with acting.

Most of the competition was into bulk popcorn because of the major increases in the Drive-In Theatre Outlets.

If you really want to love humanity, then you have to love humanity as it is now.