Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means, … - Umberto Eco

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to enquiry

(William of Baskerville)

In this world you either read or write, and writers write out of contempt for their colleagues, out of a desire to have something good to read once in a while.

Whoever reflects on four things I would be better if he were never born: that which is above, that which is below, that which is before, that which is after.

This has nothing to do with realism (even if it explains also realism). A completely real world can be constructed, in which asses fly and princesses are restored to life by a kiss, but that world, purely possible and unrealistic, must exist according to structures defined at the outset (we have to know whether it is a world where a princess can be restored to life only by the kiss of a prince, or also by that of a witch, and whether the princess's kiss tranforms only frogs into princes or also, for example, armadillos).