Umberto Eco Quotes

I don't know if I'm so righteous.

I have never been 100% confident that I am right about anything.

The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.

If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his self-approved wisdom.

Mature? Yeah, I get told that a lot. I don't know if it's true. I guess I try to be bright.

I'm certainly the last person to give advice on, well, anything.

I don't enjoy hearing myself talk.

The thing I believe in most in the world is my own fallibility, so I am willing to believe that I may be wrong too.

For other people, I can't speak - but, personally, I haven't gotten wise on anything. Certainly, I've been through this and that; and when it happens again, I say to myself, Here it is again. But that doesn't seem to help me. In my opinion, I, personally, have gotten steadily sillier and sillier - and that's a fact.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

I've been criticized for not having perspective in the past and I thought that of myself many times but not there.

'What am I missing?' is a much more important question than 'How cool am I?'

My weaknesses... I wish I could come up with something. I'd probably have the same pause if you asked me what my strengths are. Maybe they're the same thing.

Wisdom is keeping a sense of fallibility of all our views and opinions.

I'm not good at watching myself.

I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.

I don't see myself as a visionary at all.

I don't think that I'm that sophisticated. Maybe I'm not aware of it, I don't know.

I am sure of nothing so little as my own intentions.

I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.

If I were to say at any point that I feel really confident or really in control, that would be a mistake. Because I don't. I always see where I didn't do things the right way.

When I look in the mirror, I am slightly reminded of self-portraits by Durer and by Rembrandt, because they both show a degree of introspection. I see some element of disappointment; I see a sense of humour, but also something that is faintly ridiculous; and I see somebody who is frightened of being found out and thought lightweight.

There is a cleansing humility about doubt.

Am I impressed by myself? Nah, not really.

The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.