Fausto Cercignani Quotes

We learn a lot from the mistakes of others, but even more from our own.

Secret thoughts are only half free: they fly undisturbed in the skies of the inner freedom, but they can never leave them.

Sometimes true tolerance requires an extraordinary strength, which we are often too weak to exercise.

It is certainly a good thing always to forgive with generosity, but it is no doubt just never to forget the wrongs received: they belong to the route that leads to inner maturity.

Unlike money, hope is all: for the rich as well as for the poor.

When you would suffocate or ignore dissent, remember how many times you dissented.

Personal dignity is to be measured with the yardstick of one's conscience, not with that of other people's judgement.

A secret remains a secret until you make someone promise never to reveal it.

Do not confuse fantasy with imagination; the former consumes itself in daydreaming, the latter stimulates creativity in the arts and in the sciences.

As long as his strength permits, the poor mortal must always climb new mountains.

Your will cannot always choose the path; very often the route is determined by chance or by the will of others.

Your identity is like your shadow: not always visible and yet always present.

Inner freedom demands the rejection of any imposition that injures our dignity.

If you are living in the past or in the future, you will never find a meaning in the present.