Fausto Cercignani Quotes

Inner freedom demands the rejection of any imposition that injures our dignity.

Secret thoughts are only half free: they fly undisturbed in the skies of the inner freedom, but they can never leave them.

Do not confuse fantasy with imagination; the former consumes itself in daydreaming, the latter stimulates creativity in the arts and in the sciences.

If you are living in the past or in the future, you will never find a meaning in the present.

Personal dignity is to be measured with the yardstick of one's conscience, not with that of other people's judgement.

Your identity is like your shadow: not always visible and yet always present.

Once I believed that sooner or later I would come across a really wise person; today I couldn't even say what wisdom is.

Sometimes true tolerance requires an extraordinary strength, which we are often too weak to exercise.

Unlike money, hope is all: for the rich as well as for the poor.

As long as his strength permits, the poor mortal must always climb new mountains.

We learn a lot from the mistakes of others, but even more from our own.

A secret remains a secret until you make someone promise never to reveal it.

Your will cannot always choose the path; very often the route is determined by chance or by the will of others.

When you would suffocate or ignore dissent, remember how many times you dissented.