The good of a book lies in its being read.

As a scholar I am interested in the philosophy of language, semiotics, call it what you want, and one of the main features of the human language is the possibility of lying.

But the purpose of a story is to teach and to please at once, and what it teaches is how to recognize the snares of the world.

I suspect that there is no serious scholar who doesn’t like to watch television. I’m just the only one who confesses.

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.

We invented the car, and it made it easier for us to crash and die. If I gave a car to my grandfather, he would die in five minutes, while I have grown up slowly to accept speed.

It is sometimes hard to grasp the difference between identifying with one's own roots, understanding people with other roots, and judging what is good or bad.