Philosophy appears to concern itself only with the truth, but perhaps expresses only fantasies, while literature appears to concern itself only with fantasies, but perhaps it expresses the truth.

A l'intérieur de ce corps vivait l'âme d'une intellectuelle et poète dont personne n'avait le soupçon. Within this body lived the soul of an intellectual and poet, which nobody had suspected.

Eco sees the intellectual as an organizer of culture, someone who can run a magazine or a museum. An administrator, in fact. I think this is a melancholy situation for an intellectual.

The most important basis of any novel is wanting to be someone else, and this means creating a character.

There are some fundamental values it's impossible to be wrong about.

Rather than regret for what I have written, I feel regret for what I shall never be able to read.

No, I'm happy to go on living the life I've chosen. I'm a university teacher and I like my job.