Born on April 20 — Quotes

I did not know that I was so empty, to be so full.

Con Berlusconi dobbiamo riscrivere le regole dello Stato democratico.

Funny that I should become such a great believer in justice. I always used to open my history courses by telling the students that if they expected to hear a series of movie scenarios, with the good guys winning in the end, they might as well all go home because not only didn’t the good guys win, but there weren’t any good guys.

Non sono qui per rendere omaggio a Berlusconi, ma a un'azienda che è un patrimonio per il Paese.

I am insane, with small intervals of horrible sanity.

"How can it be?" she wondered. "I suppose I could understand it if men had simply forgotten unicorns (...) But not to see them at all, to look at them and see something else — what do they look to one another, then? What do trees look like to them, or houses, or real horses, or their own children?"

The sun cakes on my desk were taken, my cakes in the refrigerator are also missing. Flower baskets sent by my friends to congratulate me on my recent promotion were trampled. My colleague lost a NT$1,000 bill that he left in his office. In a democratic society, people can express their own views to gain public support, but taking away other people's possessions without permission is not a way to make a case.

"I am no king, and I am no lord,
And I am no soldier at-arms," said he.
"I'm none but a harper, and a very poor harper,
That am come hither to wed with ye."

"If you were a lord, you should be my lord,
And the same if you were a thief," said she.
"And if you are a harper, you shall be my harper,
For it makes no matter to me, to me,
For it makes no matter to me."

"But what if it prove that I am no harper?
That I lied for your love most monstrously?"

"Why, then I'll teach you to play and sing,
For I dearly love a good harp," said she.

Conscious experience is at once the most familiar thing in the world and the most mysterious.

You don't have to believe in Hell. All you need is to hear someone who really does, who believes in it this minute, today, the way people believe in 1685 — all you have to do is see his face, his voice when he says the word... and than you know that anyone who can imagine Hell has the power to make it real for other people.

Erdogan is bombing our values, not just the Kurds. [...] The authority of the great democracies and the Western world is at stake. And unfortunately, we cannot count on the Americans, who are in the hands of a leadership whose credibility is now close to zero. This increases the responsibility of Europeans.

Le banche non si presentano alle elezioni e se lo facessero, di questi tempi, non avrebbero i voti per governare.

(Referring to Gnutti, Colaninno, and the irresistible rise of the “capitani coraggiosi” (brave captains)) This is a group of well-known entrepreneurs and managers who built Infostrada and Omnitel. Perhaps they are biting off more than they can chew, but that remains to be seen. As things stand, allow me to applaud their courage. (February 19, 1999)

We don’t want to see targets burning, we want to see the system that sets up for systemic racism burnt to the ground... I am duty-bound to be here to simply say: That it is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy. It is your duty to fortify your own house, so that you may be a house of refuge in times of organization. And now is the time to plot, plan, strategize, organize, and mobilize... It is time to beat up prosecutors you don’t like at the voting booth. It is time to hold mayoral offices accountable, chiefs and deputy chiefs. Atlanta is not perfect, but we’re a lot better than we ever were, and we’re a lot better than cities are.

"I've never really undestood," the unicorn mused as the man picked himself up," what you dream of doing with me, once you've caught me."
The man leaped again, and she slipped away from him like rain. "I don't think you know yourself," she said.