Philosophy Quotes by Umberto Eco

The poets did not win; the philosophers surrendered.

— Umberto Eco

“What does the philosopher say? Odi ergo sum. I hate therefore I am.”

— Umberto Eco

As a scholar I am interested in the philosophy of language, semiotics, call it what you want, and one of the main…

— Umberto Eco

Being a professional philosopher is, I would say, feeling natural to think about small and great problems. It is the only pleasure.

— Umberto Eco

In the United States there's a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries,…

— Umberto Eco

“Symbol sometimes of the Devil,sometimes of the Risen Christ, no animal is more untrustworthy than the cock.”

— Umberto Eco

“After all, the fundamental question of philosophy (like that of psychoanalysis) is the same as the question of the detective novel: who…

— Umberto Eco

“Poor idiot! Are you so foolish as to believe we will openly teach you the greatest and most important of secrets? I…

— Umberto Eco

There is a constant in the average American imagination and taste, for which the past must be preserved and celebrated in full-scale…

— Umberto Eco

Only an unhinged movie survives as a disconnected series of images, of peaks, of visual icebergs. It should display not one central…

— Umberto Eco

“Usually the recipe for a bestseller is to give people what they want. My challenge is and was: Give them what they…

— Umberto Eco

“Alchemy, however, is a chaste prostitute, who has many lovers but disappoints all and grants her favors to none. She transforms the…

— Umberto Eco

“But I must hope that books possess a life of a more varied kind than their authors' myopia concedes to them. A…

— Umberto Eco

You cannot believe what you are saying." "Well, no. Hardly ever. But the philosopher is like the poet. The latter composes ideal…

— Umberto Eco

“In that face, deformed by hatred of philosophy, I saw for the first time the portrait of the Antichrist, who does not…

— Umberto Eco

“...and it is characteristic of the young to become bound to an older and wiser man not only by the spell of…

— Umberto Eco

“...It would hardly be a waste of time if sometimes even the most advanced students in the cognitive sciences were to pay…

— Umberto Eco