Where is all my wisdom, then? I behaved stubbornly, pursuing a semblance of order, when I should have known well that there is no order in the univer… - Umberto Eco

INTERVIEWER

Do you believe in God?

ECO

Why does one love a certain person one day and discover the next day that the love is gone? Feelings, alas, disappear without justification, and often without a trace.

INTERVIEWER

If you don’t believe in God, then why have you written at such great length about religion?

ECO

Because I do believe in religion. Human beings are religious animals, and such a characteristic feature of human behavior cannot be ignored or dismissed.

"But it’s atheists who say that the world wasn’t made by anyone, and you say you’re not an atheist . . ."
I’m not because I can’t bring myself to believe that all these things we see around us — the way trees and fruits grow, and the solar system, and our brains — came about by chance. They’re too well made. And therefore there must have been a creating mind. God.

Two clichés make us laugh. A hundred cliches move us. For we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, and celebrating a reunion.

(Casablanca, or, The Clichés Are Having a Ball)