A book is a fragile creature. It suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements, clumsy hands. — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
I think a book should be judged 10 years later, after reading and re-reading it. — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved. You cannot make a spoon… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
A writer writes for writers, a non-writer writes for his next-door neighbor or for the manager of the local bank branch, and… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
There are books on our shelves we haven't read and doubtless never will, that each of us has probably put to one… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
Authors frequently say things they are unaware of; only after they have gotten the reactions of their readers do they discover what… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
A narrator should not supply interpretations of his work; otherwise he would have not written a novel, which is a machine for… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
I don't want to write a novel per year. I know that I need a break of one or two years. So… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
After years of practice, I can walk into a bookstore and understand its layout in a few seconds. I can glance at… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
“Good libraries hold several millions of books: even if we read a book a day, we would read only 365 a year,… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
“The good of a book lies in its being read. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs,… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
“It’s true,” Benno said, smiling for the first time, his face growing almost radiant. “We live for books. A sweet mission in… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
Since I became a novelist I have discovered that I am biased. Either I think a new novel is worse than mine… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
“Entering a novel is like going on a climb in the mountains: you have to learn the rhythm of respiration, acquire the… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
There are more books in the world than hours in which to read them. We are thus deeply influenced by books we… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
I love the secrecy of writing fiction. When I write a novel, I don't tell anybody what I'm doing. I'm living in… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
The Art of the Romance, though warning us that it is providing fictions, opens a door into the Palace of Absurdity, and… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
I think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation. But later in life good poets burn their early… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
Followers of the occult believe in only what they already know, and in those things that confirm what they have already learned. — Umberto Eco Copy Share
“This has nothing to do with realism (even if it explains also realism). A completely real world can be constructed, in which asses fly… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
“…there’s nothing in this world that demands more caution than the truth. To tell the truth is like leeching one’s own heart...” — Umberto Eco Copy Share
The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved. You cannot make a spoon that is… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
“No algorithm exists for the metaphor, nor can a metaphor be produced by means of a computer’s precise instructions, no matter what the volume… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
With all of its defects, the global market makes war less likely, even between the USA and China. — Umberto Eco Copy Share
The Fundamental Principle that governs - or ought to govern -human affairs if we wish to avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, or pointless utopias, is negotiation. — Umberto Eco Copy Share
American coffee can be a pale solution served at a temperature of 100 degrees centigrade in plastic thermos cups, usually obligatory in railroad stations… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
Listening doesn't mean trying to understand. Anything, however trifling, may be of use one day. What matters is to know something that others don't… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
They say that a cat, if it falls from a window and hits its nose, can lose its sense of smell and then, because… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past. As I learned… — Umberto Eco Copy Share
There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics. — Umberto Eco Copy Share
