Umberto Eco

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means... ↗

— Umberto Eco

#believe

I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#parenting #wisdom #parenting

We live for books. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#book-lovers #books #reading #lovers

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#believing #everything #god #men #nothing

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#believe #come #enigma #had #harmless

I love the smell of book ink in the morning. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#morning #reading #smells #love

The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#being #coward #dreams #else #everybody

Thus I rediscovered what writers have always known (and have told us again and again): books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#story-telling #storytelling #writer

People are never so completely and enthusiastically evil as when they act out of religious conviction. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#evil #fanaticism #fundamentalism #religion #religion

Entering a novel is like going on a climb in the mountains: you have to learn the rhythm of respiration, acquire the pace; otherwise you stop right away. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#novel