You will get the most attention from those who hate you. No friend, no admirer and no partner will flatter you with as much curiosity.

Hard work will get you a professorship or a BMW. You need both work and luck for a Booker, a Nobel or a private jet.

The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself.

Modernity: we created youth without heroism, age without wisdom, and life without grandeur

Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but, to the non-sucker, not exactly the same thing.

Umberto Eco is the owner of a large personal library of almost 30,000 books that he has not read. [To him] read books are far less valuable than unread ones.

Dress your best on your execution day. Be extremely courteous to your assistant when you lose money. Try not to blame others for your fate, even if they deserve blame. Never exhibit any self-pity. Do not complain.