Religion Quotes by Umberto Eco

19 Religion quotes by Umberto Eco

Umberto Eco treats religion as a semiotic puzzle, teasing out layers of symbolism and power. Nineteen of his most pointed remarks invite readers to consider how belief structures narratives and societies.

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Human beings are religious animals.

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“The Devil is the arrogance of the spirit, faith without smile, truth that is never seized by doubt.”

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Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message.

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“luther, he ruined the bible by translating it into their own language.”

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Never affirm, always allude: allusions are made to test the spirit and probe the heart.

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It is psychologically very hard to go through life without the justification, and the hope, provided by religion.

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

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Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often…

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Religion has nothing to do with God. It's a fundamental attitude of human beings, who ask about the origins of life and…

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The older I grow and the more I abandon myself to God's will, the less I value intelligence that wants to know…

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the first quality of an honest man is contempt for religion, which would have us afraid of the most natural thing in…

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“Sir," Saint-Savin replied, "the first quality of an honest man is contempt for religion, which would have us afraid of the most…

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The Devil is not the Prince of Matter; the Devil is the arrogance of the spirit, faith without smile, truth that is…

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“There are only four questions of importance in life: What is sacred, of what is the spirit made, what is worth living…

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All the religious wars that have caused blood to be shed for centuries arise from passionate feelings and facile counter-positions, such as…

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“INTERVIEWER Do you believe in God? ECO Why does one love a certain person one day and discover the next day that…

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“But is the unicorn a falsehood? It's the sweetest of animals and a noble symbol. It stands for Christ and for chastity;…

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

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“Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are a bunch of practical jokers who meet somewhere and decide to have a contest. They invent…

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I think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation. But later in life good poets burn their early…

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Followers of the occult believe in only what they already know, and in those things that confirm what they have already learned.

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“This has nothing to do with realism (even if it explains also realism). A completely real world can be constructed, in which asses fly…

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“…there’s nothing in this world that demands more caution than the truth. To tell the truth is like leeching one’s own heart...”

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The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved. You cannot make a spoon that is…

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“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…

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With all of its defects, the global market makes war less likely, even between the USA and China.

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The Fundamental Principle that governs - or ought to govern -human affairs if we wish to avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, or pointless utopias, is negotiation.

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Any fact becomes important when it's connected to another.

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American coffee can be a pale solution served at a temperature of 100 degrees centigrade in plastic thermos cups, usually obligatory in railroad stations…

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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…

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They say that a cat, if it falls from a window and hits its nose, can lose its sense of smell and then, because…

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There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past. As I learned…

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