The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Umberto EcoRead
Yes, I know, it's not the truth, but in a great history little truths can be altered so that the greater truth emerges.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that sometimes smaller truths can be adjusted to reveal a larger, more significant truth.
Umberto Eco's quote reflects the idea that in the grand narratives of history, certain details may be changed or interpreted differently to highlight a more profound or overarching truth. It encourages us to consider the complexities of truth in storytelling and how narratives can be shaped for greater meaning, emphasizing that the essence of a story may hold more weight than the factual accuracy of every detail.
Themes
TruthHistoryNarrativePhilosophyStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about historical events, one might say, 'As Umberto Eco said, in a great history little truths can be altered to reveal a greater truth.'
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
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there i was in late middle age, cut loose in a thoroughly looted, bankrupt nation whose assets had been sold off to foreigners, a nation swamped by unchecked plagues and superstition and illiteracy and hypnotic tv, with virtually no health services for the poor. where to go? what to do?
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