"It's hopeless," he went on. "We no longer have the learning of the ancients, the age of giants is past!" "We are dwarfs," William admitted, "but dw… - Umberto Eco

I wrote a novel because I had a yen to do it. I believe this is sufficient reason to set out to tell a story.

I 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.

The sign is a gesture produced with the intention of communicating, that is, in order to transmit one's representation or inner state to another being. The existence of a certain rule (a code) enabling both the sender and the addressee to understand the manifestation in the same way must, of course, be presupposed if the transmission is to be successful; in this sense, navy flags, street signs, signboards, trademarks, labels, emblems, coats of arms, and letters are taken to be signs.