The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Umberto EcoRead
When someone has to intervene to defend the liberty of the press, that society is sick.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that any need to defend press freedom indicates deeper societal issues.
Umberto Eco's quote implies that a healthy society should inherently respect and support the freedom of the press. When intervention is necessitated to protect this freedom, it points to underlying problems within the society that undermine democratic principles and civil liberties, marking a deterioration in societal health and integrity.
Themes
PressLibertySocietyInterventionFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on freedom of expression, one could reference this quote to emphasize the importance of protecting press liberties.
More from Umberto Eco
All quotes βI think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation. But later in life good poets burn their early poetry, and bad poets publish it. Thankfully I gave up rather quickly.
Umberto EcoRead
But why do some people support [the heretics]?" "Because it serves their purposes, which concern the faith rarely, and more often the conquest of power." "Is that why the church of Rome accuses all its adversaries of heresy?" "That is why, and that is also why it recognizes as orthodoxy any heresy it can bring back under its own control or must accept because the heresy has become too strong.
Umberto EcoRead
You die, but most of what you have accumulated will not be lost; you are leaving a message in a bottle.
Umberto EcoRead
"Then we are living in a place abandoned by God," I said, disheartened. "Have you found any places where God would have felt at home?" William asked me, looking down from his great height.
Umberto EcoRead
The lunatic is all idΓ©e fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars.
Umberto EcoRead
Similar quotes
Iraq is just a symbol of the attitude of western democracies to the rest of the world.
Harold PinterRead
Memory weaves and traps us at the same time according to a scheme in which we do not participate: we should never speak of our memory, for it is anything but ours; it works on its own terms, it assists us while deceiving us or perhaps deceives up to assist us.
Julio CortazarRead
The mentality of mankind and the language of mankind created each other. If we like to assume the rise of language as a given fact, then it is not going too far to say that the souls of men are the gift from language to mankind. The account of the sixth day should be written: He gave them speech, and they became souls.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
Fear is ubiquitous in human life. It starts in infancy with our primal state of helplessness, where we can see what's going on but we can't move to get it. As we grow older we become a little more able to get what we want but then we're going to die so that gives fear another boost.
Martha NussbaumRead
Having a strong race lens means you understand racism is threaded through and institutionalized in all of our systems and our very perceptions, threaded through how someone looks at you, treats you, thinks about you and your potential.
Pramila JayapalRead
There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan.
C. S. LewisRead