In short, Roberto privately concluded, if you would avoid wars, never make treaties of peace.

Captain Cook discovered Australia looking for the Terra Incognita. Christopher Columbus thought he was finding India but discovered America. History is full of events that happened because of an imaginary tale.

The step between ecstatic vision and sinful frenzy is all too brief.

Our most noted satirists are true columnists and their opinions can be worth more than any well-documented exposé.

"You cannot believe what you are saying." "Well, no. Hardly ever. But the philosopher is like the poet. The latter composes ideal letters for an ideal nymph, only to plumb with his words the depths of passion. The philosopher tests the coldness of his gaze, to see how far he can undermine the fortress of bigotry."

It is a myth of publishers that people want to read easy things.

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.