mattia [mat-tì-a] s.f. (ant.) l'essere matto, stoltezza Il Grande Dizionario Garzanti della Lingua Italiana, Garzanti, 1987 % Hasta la victoria siempre! Ernesto "Che" Guevara % La humanidad vive en el pecho de todos nosotros y, como el corazon, prefiere el lado izquierdo. Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, Primera Declaracion de La Realidad, Mexico, Enero de 1996, http://www.ezln.org % No es necesario conquistar el mundo. Basta con que lo hagamos de nuevo. Nosotros. Hoy. Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, Primera Declaracion de La Realidad, Mexico, Enero de 1996, http://www.ezln.org % Hay un recuerdo. Desde millares de fotos, posters, camisetas, cintas, discos, videos, postales, retratos, revistas, libros, frases, testimonios, fantasmas todos de la sociedad industrial que no sabe depositar sus mitos en la sobriedad de la memoria, el Che nos vigila. Mas alla de toda parafernalia retorna. En era de naufragios es nuestro santo laico. Casi 30 anos despues de su muerte, su imagen cruza las generaciones, su mito pasa correteando en medio de los delirios de grandeza del neoliberalismo. Irreverente, burlon, terco, moralmente terco, inolvidable. Paco Ignacio Taibo II, "Ernesto Guevara, tambien conocido como el Che", 1996 % Hace hoy cien años exactos, un pobre y espléndido poeta, el más atroz de los desesperados, escribió esta profecía: "A l'aurore, armes d'une ardente patience, nous entrerons aux splendides Villes". "Al amanecer, armados de una ardiente paciencia, entraremos a las espléndidas ciudades". Yo creo en esa profecía de Rimbaud, el Vidente. Yo vengo de una oscura provincia, de un país separado de todos los otros por la tajante geografía. Fui el más abandonado de los poetas y mi poesía fue regional, dolorosa y lluviosa. Pero tuve siempre confianza en el hombre. No perdí jamás la esperanza. Por eso tal vez he llegado hasta aquí con mi poesía, y también con mi bandera. En conclusión, debo decir a los hombres de buena voluntad, a los trabajadores, a los poetas que el entero porvenir fue expresado en esa frase de Rimbaud: sólo con una ardiente paciencia conquistaremos la espléndida ciudad que dará luz, justicia y dignidad a todos los hombres. Así la poesía no habrá cantado en vano. Pablo Neruda, Discurso pronunciado con ocasión de la entrega del Premio Nobel de Literatura, 12 Diciembre 1971 % We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892 % The truth is rarely pure and never simple Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895 % People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. George Bernard Shaw, Mrs Warren's Profession, 1893 % The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity. George Bernard Shaw, The Devil's Disciple, 1901 % The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. Dorothy Parker % If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time Edith Wharton % Women should come labelled - it would make life so much simpler Mike Gayle, My legendary girlfriend, 1998 % Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday. Mary Schmich, "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", 1997 % Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself. Mary Schmich, "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", 1997 % Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's. Mary Schmich, "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", 1997 % Coelum, non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt. Strenua nos exercet inertia, navibus atque Quadrigis petimus bene vivere; quod petis hic est. Horatio (65 BC - 8 BC), Epistulae (I, 11, 27) % Angels and ministers of grace defend us! William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV % O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Scene II % Please, sir, I want some more Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist % Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show Charles Dickens, David Copperfield % Everything's gonna be all right! Bob Marley % The world expects a man to buckle down and to shovel shit Queen, Son and daughter, from "Queen", 1973 % If we cannot be free, at least we can be cheap Frank Zappa % We're Only In It For The Money Frank Zappa % Like a bird on the wire Like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free Leonard Cohen, Bird on the wire, from "Songs from a room", 1969 % Tu che m'ascolti insegnami un alfabeto che sia differente da quello della mia vigliaccheria Fabrizio De André, Cantico dei drogati, da "Tutti morimmo a stento", 1970 % Certo bisogna farne di strada da una ginnastica d'obbedienza fino ad un gesto molto più umano che ti dia il senso della violenza però bisogna farne altrettanta per diventare così coglioni da non riuscire più a capire che non ci sono poteri buoni Fabrizio De André, Nella mia ora di libertà, da "Storia di un impiegato", 1973 % Yes I know my enemies They're the teachers who taught me to fight me Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite All of which are American dreams Rage Against The Machine, Know Your Enemy, from "Rage Against The Machine", 1992 % I write messages on money. It's my own form of social protest. A letter printed on paper that no one will destroy passed indiscriminately across race, class and gender lines and written in the blood that keeps the beast alive. A quiet little hijacking on the way to the check-out counter. And a federal crime. I hope that someone will find my message one day when they really need it. Like I do. Rage Against The Machine, from "Renegades" Liner Notes, 2000 % Post scriptum pseudo-politico: "orfano di sinistra" vuol dire che una famiglia, geneticopolitica, l'avevo. Che non l'abbia più, l'ho vista morire l'ho sepolta, non significa che sono disponibile al farmi adottare. Ho superato la fase del lutto e del cordoglio, mi tengo disponibile se il caso per il pianto rituale. Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, dalle note di "D'anime e d'animali", PGR, 2004 % Eravamo tesi, tristi e preoccupati. Non è facile ricominciare d'improvviso, di nuovo. È che non c'era altra possibilità. Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, dalle note di "D'anime e d'animali", PGR, 2004 % conosco le abitudini so i prezzi e non voglio comperare né essere comprato CSI, forma e sostanza, da "tabula rasa elettrificata", 1997 % Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois, on the 12th January 1992. My instructor was Mr Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it, I can sing it for you. HAL 9000 Computer, from "2001 : A Space Odissey", Stanley Kubrick, 1968 % All work and no play make Jack a dull boy Jack Nicholson (alias Jack Torrance), from "The Shining", Stanley Kubrick, 1980 % Son, all I've ever asked of my marines is that they obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the Vietnamese, because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over. Bruce Boa (alias Pogue Colonel), from "Full Metal Jacket", Stanley Kubrick, 1987 % Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. R. Lee Ermey (alias Gunnery Sergeant Hartman) from "Full Metal Jacket", Stanley Kubrick, 1987 % The dead know only one thing: it's better to be alive. Matthew Modine (alias Private J.T. "Joker" Davis), from "Full Metal Jacket", Stanley Kubrick, 1987 % God has a hard on for Marines, because we kill everything we see. He plays His games, we play ours. To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls. God was here before the marine corps, so you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the corps! R. Lee Ermey (alias Gunnery Sergeant Hartman) from "Full Metal Jacket", Stanley Kubrick, 1987 % My thoughts drift back to erect nipple wet dreams about Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the Great Homecoming Fuck Fantasy. I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece and short. I'm in a world of shit ... yes. But I am alive. And I am not afraid. Matthew Modine (alias Private J.T. "Joker" Davis), from "Full Metal Jacket", Stanley Kubrick, 1987 % Wow, after I jumped it occurred to me life is perfect, life is the best, full of magic, beauty, opportunity... and television... and surprises, lots of surprises, yeah... and then there's the best stuff, of course, better than anything anyone ever made up, 'cause it's real... Jeremy Davies (alias Tom Tom), from "The Million Dollar Hotel", Wim Wenders, 2000 % I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure... but don't worry... You will someday. Kevin Spacey (alias Lester Burnham), from "American Beauty", Sam Mendes, 1999 % Dear Leonard, to look life in the face, always, to look life in the face, and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it, for what it is, and then, to put it away. Leonard, always the years between us, always the years, always the love, always... the hours... Nicole Kidman (alias Virginia Woolf), from "The Hours", Stephen Daldry, 2002 % There's nothing wrong with going nowhere, son. It's a privilege of youth. Kevin Costner (alias Gardner Barnes, Groover), from "Fandango", Kevin Reynolds, 1985 % I'm looking for the least possible amount of responsibility. Kevin Spacey (alias Lester Burnham), from "American Beauty", Sam Mendes, 1999 % I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really: get busy living, or get busy dying. Tom Hanks (alias Andy Dufresne), from "The Shawshank Redemption", Frank Darabont 1994 % I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy, but they're definitely dirty. But a dog's got personality. And personality goes a long way. Samuel L. Jackson (alias Jules Winnfield), from "Pulp Fiction", Quentin Tarantino, 1994 % Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose a future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? Ewan McGregor (alias Mark Renton), from "Trainspotting", Danny Boyle, 1996 % A toast... before we go into battle. True love. In whatever shape or form it may come. May we all in our dotage be proud to say "I was adored once, too". Simon Callow (alias Gareth), from "Four Weddings and a Funeral", Mike Newell, 1993 % Io sono solo qui a ricordare come era bella l'innocenza di sapersi normali! Dario Bellezza, da "Invettive e licenze", 1971 % Ma noi s'è letta negli occhi dei morti E sulla terra faremo libertà Ma l'hanno stretta i pugni dei morti La giustizia che si farà Franco Fortini, Canto degli ultimi partigiani % Per ognuno di noi che acconsente vive un ragazzo triste che ancora non sa quanto odierà di esistere. Franco Fortini, Complicità % Avessi studiato da giovane. Non sapessi la verità. Franco Fortini, Avessi studiato % Forse il tempo del sangue ritornerà. Uomini ci sono che debbono essere uccisi. Padri che debbono essere derisi. Luoghi da profanare bestemmie da proferire incendi da fissare delitti da benedire. Ma più c'è da tornare ad un'altra pazienza alla feroce scienza degli oggetti alla coerenza nei dilemmi che abbiamo creduto oltrepassare. Al partito che bisogna prendere e fare. Cercare i nostri eguali osare riconoscerli lasciare che ci giudichino guidarli esser guidati con loro volere il bene fare con loro il male e il bene la realtà servire negare mutare. Franco Fortini, Forse il tempo del sangue % Misuro l'indicibile distanza tra il gioco del potere e questa stanza puzzo di morte contro odor di vita non credo a Craxi, credo ad una granita Michele Serra, Solleone, da "Poetastro", Feltrinelli, 1993 % Se si vuol giudicare valutando l'andazzo veramente volgare è non dire mai un cazzo Michele Serra, Volgarità, da "Canzoni Politiche", Feltrinelli, 2000 % Chiunque nella sua propria maniera abbia pensato senza la cravatta abbia cercato sera dopo sera l'ingresso di una vita meno piatta. Gli schernitori dell'autorità fuggiti via da Dio, Patrie, Famiglie inseguitori della libertà veloci e colorati come biglie. Michele Serra, Il fascino discreto della borghesia, da "Poetastro", Feltrinelli, 1993 % Marx non era poi così cretino predisse le virtù di Coccolino la merce, scrisse, dominerà l'uomo Intitolare a Marx piazza del Duomo è dunque il minimo che si possa fare non era facile, allora, anticipare la nostra fine, il nostro essere niente davanti ad un flacone ammorbidente Michele Serra, Karlmarxstrasse, da "Poetastro", Feltrinelli, 1993 % Zia Emma, i signori Mauser, e tutti i loro amici avevano in comune soprattutto questo: non avevano mai fatto un cazzo per tutta la vita. Se dicessi che volevo arruolarmi nella guerriglia maoista boliviana gia' verso i dieci anni anche per merito dello spettacoloso parassitismo di zia Emma e dei suoi accoliti, direi solo una parte molto banale della verita'. L'altra parte della verita', quella meno banale, e' che la formidabile vocazione di quel milieu - fare un cazzo per tutta la vita, ma farlo come se quel cazzo fosse la vita stessa - conteneva un ammaestramento fondamentale (anche per la guerriglia maoista boliviana): ci vuole talento per ogni cosa, anche per non fare un cazzo. E loro ce l'avevano. Eccome, se ce l'avevano. Michele Serra, Che l'ultima mancia sia elargita all'ultimo cameriere, da "Cerimonie", Feltrinelli, 2002 % This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 1979 % Da giovane odiavo ogni regola, adesso tento d'impormene una o due. Ennio Flaiano, Frasario essenziale (per passare inosservati in società), 1986 % The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thought that created them Albert Einstein % Insanity : doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results Albert Einstein % From so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, are are being, evolved Charles Darwin, On Natural Selection, from "The Origin of Species", 1859 % Numerous factors contribute to the acceptability of ideas. To a very large extent, of course, we associate truth with convenience - with what most closely accords with self-interest and individual well-being or promises best to avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life. We also find highly acceptable what contributes most to self-esteem. Speakers before the United States Chamber of Commerce rarely denigrate the business man as an economic force. Those who appear before the AFL-CIO are prone to identify social progress with a strong trade union movement. But perhaps most important of all, people approve most of what they best understand. As just noted, economic and social behaviour are complex and mentally tiring. Therefore we adhere, as though to a raft, to those ideas which represent our understanding. This is a prime manifestation of vested interest. For a vested interest in understanding is more preciously guarded than any other treasure. It is why men react, not infrequently with something akin to religious passion, to the defence of what they have so laboriously learned. Familiarity may breed contempt in some areas of human behaviour, but in the field of social ideas it is the touchstone of acceptability. J.K. Galbraith, The Conventional Wisdom, from "The Affluent Society", 1958 % With increasing distance our knowledge fades and fades rapidly. Eventually we reach the dim boundary, the outmost limits of our telescope. The search will continue. Not until the empirical resources are exhausted need we pass on to the dreamy realm of speculation. Edwin Hubble, The Realm of the Nebulae, 1936 % For I can end as I began. From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances and strive to imagine the sort of world into which we are born. Today we have reached far out into space. Our immediate neighbourhood we know rather intimately. But with increasing distance our knowledge fades, and fades rapidly, until at the last dim horizon we search among ghostly errors of observations for landmarks that are scarcely more substantial. The search will continue. The urge is older than history. It is not satisfied and it will not be supressed. Edwin Hubble, The Law of Red-Shifts, 1953 % Man has a great tendency to get lost or to hide, as the case may be, in a jungle of details and in unnecessary complications. Why do anything simply if you can do it complicated? Fritz Zwicky, Morphological Astronomy, 1957 % Astrophysics has sometimes earned itself the undeserved reputation of being a science in which only orders of magnitude are possible, rather than precise values Pierre Léna et al., Observational Astrophysics, 2nd edition, 1998 % cosmology - a subject that has the modest aim of understanding the entire universe and all its contents J.A. Peacock, Cosmological Physics, 1999 % It is not likely that we primates gazing through bits of glass for a century or two will dissemble the architecture and history of infinity. But if we don't try we won't get anywhere. Therefore we professionals do the best we can to fit the odd clues we have into some kind of plausible story. That is how science works, and that is the spirit in which our cosmological speculations should be treated. Don't be impressed by our complex machines or our arcane mathematics. They have been used to build plausible cosmic stories before - which we had to discard afterwards in the face of improving evidence. The likelihood must be that such revisions will have to occur again and again and again. Michael J. Disney, astro-ph/0009020, 2000, The Case Against Cosmology, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0009020 % Another writer again agreed with all my generalities, but said that as an inveterate skeptic I have closed my mind to the truth. Most notably I have ignored the evidence for an Earth that is six thousand years old. Well, I haven't ignored it; I considered the purported evidence and *then* rejected it. There is a difference, and this is a difference, we might say, between prejudice and postjudice. Prejudice is making a judgment before you have looked at the facts. Postjudice is making a judgment afterwards. Prejudice is terrible, in the sense that you commit injustices and you make serious mistakes. Postjudice is not terrible. You can't be perfect of course; you may make mistakes also. But it is permissible to make a judgment after you have examined the evidence. In some circles it is even encouraged. Carl Sagan, "The Burden of Skepticism" % Cosmology is the dot com of sciences. Boom or bust. Michael S. Turner, astro-ph/0102057, 2001, A Sober Assessment of Cosmology at the New Millennium, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102057 % The Universe is a physical object. Physical objects have shapes and sizes. So, a major goal of observational cosmology is to measure the shape and size of the Universe (within appropriate mathematical theory relating to geometry), or else to convincingly show that these are unmeasurable. The alternative, to suppose that the Universe is a spiritual object, without a shape or size, is not part of the domain of science. Boudewijn F. Roukema, astro-ph/0201092, 2002, Observational Constraints on the Topology (Global Geometry) of the Universe, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0201092 % So I have just one wish for you - the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom. Richard Feynman, "Cargo Cult Science", from "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character", 1985 % For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. Richard Feynman, "Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle" from "What Do You Care What Other People Think? Further Adventures of a Curious Character", 1988 % It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress and great value of a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress that is the the fruit of freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom, to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed, and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations. Richard Feynman, "The Role of Doubt in Science", from "What Do You Care What Other People Think? Further Adventures of a Curious Character", 1988 % I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring. Last words by Richard Feynman (1918-1988) % Find a way to do your research with as little contact with non-technical people as possible, with one exception, fall madly in love! That is my advice, my friend. Richard Feynman (writing) to Stephen Wolfram, from "Don't you have time to think?", 2005 % After all, I was born not knowing and have only had a little time to change that here and there. Richard Feynman (writing) to Armando Garcia, from "Don't you have time to think?", 2005 % Few professions offer the universal mystique that surrounds being a scientist. If you can make the grade in this game, you're right up there with the secret agents. The mystical transformation fron non-scientist to scientist is through the rite of passage that is the Ph.D. And, yet, this two-pronged voyage of discovery and self-discovery is just the beginning of the transformation. Life in the busy years that follow becomes more complex and demanding that you could ever have imagined. Yet, despite the frantic activity, the boredom and the frustration, you can go to parties safe in the knowledge that, if anyone asks you what you do for a living, you can answer without apologising or shrugging your shoulders: you are a scientist. Enjoy it. You are paid to play. Epilogue, from "Building a Successful Career in Scientific Research a Guide for PhD Students and Postdocs", Phil Dee, 2006 % He had an effective personal style for dealing with controversy, often stating "I don't disagree with that". It was hard to argue back against this statement, although we all learned quickly that it was not quite equivalent to "I agree with that". George H. Rieke, "The Last of the Great Observatories : Spitzer and the Era of Faster, Better, Cheaper at NASA", 2006 % "Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free" as in "free speech", not as in "free beer". From "The Free Software Definition" of the GNU Project, http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html % Pick a style that suits you, then use it consistently Kernighan and Ritchie, The C Programming Language % Anyone who slaps a "this page is best viewed with Browser X" label on a Web page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web, when you had very little chance of reading a document written on another computer, another word processor, or another network. Tim Berners-Lee, Technology Review, July 1996 % Software is like sex: it's better when it's free Linus Torvalds, "Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary", 2001 % Growing old is mandatory, growing wise is optional From the Internet % Old age is too high a price to pay for maturity From the Internet % ...let us keep in mind the basic governing philosophy of The Brotherhood, as handsomely summarized in these words: we believe in healthy, hearty laughter -- at the expense of the whole human race, if needs be. Needs be. H. Allen Smith, Rude Jokes, 1970 % When did ignorance become a point of view? Scott Adams % They all want to escape from the pain of being alive. And, most of all, from love. I always knew something like this would turn up - some problem, like an ill wife - and it would be too much for those delicate hot-house feelings of yours. It's no good trying to fool yourself about love. You can't fall into it like a soft job, without dirtying up your hands. It takes muscle and guts. And if you can't bear the thought of messing up your nice, clean soul you'd better give up the whole idea of life, and become a saint. Because you'll never make it as a human being. It's either this world or the next. John Osborne, Look Back in Anger, 1957 % Why, why, why, why do we let these women bleed us to death? Have you ever had a letter, and on it is franked "Please Give Your Blood Generously"? Well, the Postmaster-General does that, on behalf of all the women of the world. I suppose people of our generation aren't able to die for good causes any longer. We had all that done for us, in the thirties and the forties, when we were still kids. There aren't any good, brave causes left. If the big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won't be in aid of the old-fashioned, grand design. It'll just be for the Brave New-nothing-very-much-thank-you. About as pointless and inglorious as stepping in front of the bus. No, there's nothing left for it, me boy, but to let yourself be butchered by the women. John Osborne, Look Back in Anger, 1957 % To science? It's a fraud! No one will ever resolve this problem, neither genius, nor idiot! We have no ambition to conquer any cosmos. We just want to extend Earth up to the Cosmos's borders. We don't want any more worlds. Only a mirror to see our own in. We try so hard to make contact, but we're doomed to failure. We look ridiculous pursuing a goal we fear and that we really don't need. Man needs man! Jüri Järvet (Dr Snaut), from "Solyaris", Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972 % Man was created by Nature in order to explore it. As he approaches Truth he is fated to Knowledge. All the rest is bullshit. Anatoli Solonitsyn (alias Dr Sartorius), from "Solyaris", Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972 % Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you? There are no answers, only choices. Ulrich Tukur (alias Gibarian), from "Solaris", Steven Soderbergh, 2002 % Ros: I remember when there were no questions. Guil: There were always questions. To exchange one set for another is no great matter. Ros: Answers, yes. There were answers to everything. Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, 1967 % Ros: Fire! Guil: Where? Ros: It's all right - I'm demonstrating the misuse of free speech. To prove that it exists. Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, 1967 % Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, 1967 % The sun's going down. Or the earth's coming up, as the fashionable theory has it. Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, 1967 % Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you, You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me, as of a dream,) I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you, All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured, You grew up with me, were a boy with me, or a girl with me, I ate with you, and slept with you, your body has become not yours only, nor left my body mine only, You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you take of my beard, breast, hands, in return, I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone, or wake at night alone, I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again, I am to see to it that I do not lose you. Walt Whitman, To a Stranger, from "Leaves of Grass" % To thee old cause! Thou peerless, passionate, good cause, Thou stern, remorseless, sweet idea, Deathless throughout the ages, races, lands Walt Whitman, To Thee Old Cause, from "Leaves of Grass" % We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. T.S. Eliot, The Journey of the Magi, 1927 % We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding, from "Four Quartets", 1943 % I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night Allen Ginsberg, Howl (for Carl Solomon), from "Howl and other poems", City Lights Books, 1956 % What sphinx of cement and aluminium bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination? Allen Ginsberg, Howl (for Carl Solomon), from "Howl and other poems", City Lights Books, 1956 % It's the sky that's the challenge the sky that still needs deciphering even as astronomers strain to hear it with their huge electric ears the sky that whispers to us constantly the final secrets of the universe Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet as Fisherman, from "These Are My Rivers", 1993 % So now is the time for you to speak All you lovers of liberty All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness All you lovers and sleepers Deep in your private dream Now is the time for you to speak O silent majority Before they come for you Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Speak Out (Parla Chiaro), from "Blind Poet (Poeta Cieco)", Giunti, 2003 % La vérité est si obscurcie en ce temps, et le mensonge si établi, qu'à moins que d'aimer la vérité, on ne saurait la connaître Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 864-739 % J'ai beaucoup vécu chez les grandes personnes. Je les ai vues de très près. Ça n'a pas trop amélioré mon opinion. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince, 1943 % Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c'est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince, 1943 % Regardez le ciel. Demandez-vous: Le mouton oui ou non a-t-il mangé la fleur? Et vous verrez comme tout change... Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince, 1943 % Quando c'è una bella notte stellata, il signor Palomar dice: - Devo andare a guardare le stelle -. Dice proprio: - Devo - perchè odia gli sprechi e pensa che non sia giusto sprecare tutta quella quantità di stelle che gli viene messa a disposizione. Italo Calvino, Palomar, 1983 % All the same don't forget that you're young - blessedly young; be glad of it on the contrary and live up to it. Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that what have you had? Henry James, The Ambassadors, 1903 % I don't think a flourishing businessman is the highest ideal of human endeavor John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer, 1925 % How fur ye goin? I dunno ... pretty far. John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer, 1925 % Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope Francis Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1926 % 'Oh, and do you remember' - she added - 'a conversation we had once about driving a car?' 'Why - not exactly.' 'You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride.' 'I'm thirty,' I said. 'I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour.' She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away. Francis Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1926 % And as I sat there, brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out Daisy's light at the end of his dock. He had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. But what he did not know was that it was already behind him, somewhere in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. Francis Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1926 % It's a rush that a lot of people will tell you is higher than any drug they've ever tried or even heard about, and maybe better than sex... which is a weird theory and often raises unsettling personal questions, but it is a theory nonetheless, and on some days I've even believed it myself. Hunter Stockton Thompson "Better Than Sex : Confessions of a Political Junkie", 1994 % Puerto Rico was a backwater and the Daily News was staffed mainly by ill-tempered wandering rabble. They moved erratically, on the winds of rumor and opportunity, all over Europe, Latin America and the Far East -- wherever there were English-language newspapers, jumping from one to another, looking always for the big break, the crucial assignment, the rich heiress or the fat job at the far end of the next plane ticket. In a sense I was one of them -- more competent than some and more stable than others -- and in the years that I carried that ragged banner I was seldom unemployed. Sometimes I worked for three newspapers at once. I wrote ad copy for new casinos and bowling alleys. I was a consultant for the cockfighting syndicate, an utterly corrupt high-end restaurant critic, a yachting photographer and a routine victim of police brutality. It was a greedy life and I was good at it. I made some interesting friends, had enough money to get around, and learned a lot about the world that I could never have learned in any other way. Hunter Stockton Thompson, "The Rum Diary", 1998 % Like most of the others, I was a seeker, a mover, a malcontent, and at times a stupid hell-raiser. I was never idle long enough to do much thinking, but I felt somehow that my instincts were right. I shared a vagrant optimism that some of us were making real progress, that we had taken an honest road, and that the best of us would inevitably make it over the top. At the same time, I shared a dark suspicion that the life we were leading was a lost cause, that we were all actors, kidding ourselves along on a senseless odyssey. It was the tension between these two poles -- a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other-that kept me going. Hunter Stockton Thompson, "The Rum Diary", 1998 HST was talking about US journalists working in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s, but I found it eerily reminiscent of how I felt about Italian astronomers in Italy in the early 2010s!:/) % Chi dice che io sono uno che non crede, mi conosce meglio di quanto io conosca me stesso. Io posso essere uno che non crede, ma uno che non crede che ha nostalgia per qualcosa in cui credere. Pier Paolo Pasolini, Saggi sulla politica e sulla società, 1942-1973 % L'ansia del consumo è un'ansia di obbedienza a un ordine non pronunciato. Ognuno in Italia sente l'ansia, degradante, di essere uguale agli altri nel consumare, nell'essere felice, nell'essere libero: perché questo è l'ordine che egli inconsciamente ha ricevuto, e a cui deve obbedire, a patto di sentirsi "diverso". Mai la diversità è stata una colpa così spaventosa come in questo periodo di tolleranza. L'uguaglianza non è stata infatti conquistata, ma è una falsa uguaglianza ricevuta in regalo. Pier Paolo Pasolini, Scritti Corsari, 1973-1975 % I have written worse things about Nixon, many times, and the record will show that I kicked him repeatedly long before he went down. I beat him like a mad dog with mange every time I got a chance, and I am proud of it. He was scum. Let there be no mistake in the history books about that. Richard Nixon was an evil man - evil in every way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency. Nobody trusted him - except maybe the Stalinist Chinese, and honest historians will remember him mainly as a rat who kept scrambling to get back on the ship. Hunter Stockton Thompson, He Was A Crook, from "Better Than Sex : Confessions of a Political Junkie", 1994 % Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms further ... And one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. Francis Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1926 % One night I was sitting on the bed in my hotel room on Bunker Hill, down in the very middle of Los Angeles. It was an important night in my life, because I had to make a decision about the hotel. Either I paid up or I got out: that was what the note said, the note the landlady had put under my door. A great problem, deserving acute attention. I solved it by turning out the lights and going to bed. John Fante, Ask the dust, 1939 % There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. Joseph Heller, Catch 22, 1955 % It was a vile and muddy war, and Yossarian could have lived without it - lived forever, perhaps. Only a fraction of his countrymen would give up their lives to win it, and it was not his ambition to be among them. To die or not to die, that was the question, and Clevinger grew limp trying to answer it. History did not demand Yossarian's premature demise, justice could be satisfied without it, progress did not hinge upon it, victory did not depend on it. That men would die was a matter of necessity; which men would die, though, was a matter of circumstance, and Yossarian was willing to be the victim of anything but circumstance. But that was war. Just about all he could find in its favor was that it paid well and liberated children from the pernicious influence of their parents. Joseph Heller, Catch 22, 1955 % (Mattia's musing on his upcoming 28th birthday of 23/01/2003) It was miracolous. Each day he faced was another dangerous mission against mortality. And he had been surviving them for twenty-eight years. Joseph Heller, Catch 22, 1955 % The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them. Joseph Heller, Catch 22, 1955 % Sal, we gotta go and never stop going till we get there. Where we going, man? I don't know, but we gotta go. Jack Kerouac, On the road, 1957 % The night kept coming on in and there was nothing I could do Charles Bukowski, The most beautiful woman in town, from "Erections, ejaculations, exhibitions and general tales of ordinary madness", 1972 % If I had been born a woman I would certainly have been a prostitute. Since I had been born a man, I craved women constantly, the lower the better. And yet women - good women - frightened me because they eventually wanted your soul, and what was left of mine. I wanted to keep. Basically I craved prostitutes, base women, because they were deadly and hard and made no personal demands. Nothing was lost when they left. Yet at the same time I yearned for a gentle, good woman, despite the overwhelming price. Either way I was lost. A strong man would give up both. I wasn't strong. So I continued to struggle with women, with the idea of women. Charles Bukowski, Women, 1978 % Her one drink had Cecelia giggling and talking and she was explaining that animals had souls too. Nobody challenged her opinion. It was possible, we knew. What we weren't sure of was if we had any. Charles Bukowski, Women, 1978 % I had known enough women to relize this. I accepted them for what they were, and love came hard and very seldom. When it did it was usually for the wrong reasons. One simply became tired of holding love back and let it go because it needed some place to go. Then usually, there was trouble. Charles Bukowski, Women, 1978 % we talked a while longer then I said goodbye hangup went into the crapper and took a good beershit mainly thinking, well, I'm still alive and have the ability to expell wastes from my body. and poems. and as long as that's happening I have the ability to handle betrayal loneliness hangnail clap and the economic reports in the financial section. Charles Bukowski, me, from "Love is a Dog from Hell", 1977 % I had resigned myself to dying alone in a small room - now she was trying to reshape my master plan. Charles Bukowski, 103 degrees, from "Love is a Dog from Hell", 1977 % and if you have the ability to love love yourself first but always be aware of the possibility of total defeat whether the reason for that defeat seems right or wrong Charles Bukowski, how to be a great writer, from "Love is a Dog from Hell", 1977 % an early taste of death is not necessarily a bad thing Charles Bukowski, how to be a great writer, from "Love is a Dog from Hell", 1977 % there's time. and if there's not that's all right too. Charles Bukowski, how to be a great writer, from "Love is a Dog from Hell", 1977 % age is no crime but the shame of a deliberately wasted life among so many deliberately wasted lives is. Charles Bukowski, be kind % we endure the pain of centuries... but we can laugh... sometimes. Charles Bukowski, Journey To The End, from "Bone Palace Ballet: New Poems", 1997 % The Edge ... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others - the living - are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later. Hell's Angels, Hunter Stockton Thompson, 1966 % I don't know about you, but in my line of business, it's important to be happy. Johnny Depp (alias Raoul Duke / Hunter Stockton Thompson), from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", Terry Gilliam, 1998 % What was I doing here? What was the meaning of this trip? Was I just roaming around in a drug frenzy of some kind? Or had I really come out here to Las Vegas to work on a story? Who are these people, these faces? Where do they come from? They look like caricatures of used car dealers from Dallas, and sweet Jesus, there were a hell of a lot of them at 4:30 on a Sunday morning, still humping the American dream, that vision of the big winner somehow emerging from the last minute pre-dawn chaos of a stale Vegas casino. Johnny Depp (alias Raoul Duke / Hunter Stockton Thompson), from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", Terry Gilliam, 1998 % My attorney had never been able to accept the notion -- often espoused by former drug abusers -- that you can get a lot higher without drugs than with them. And neither have I, for that matter. Johnny Depp (alias Raoul Duke / Hunter Stockton Thompson), from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", Terry Gilliam, 1998 % My story ends here. It is a fairly trivial story, and I can only hope that it has been interesting in the same way as a travel diary is interesting. I can at least say, here is the world that awaits you if you are ever penniless. Some days I want to explore that world more thoroughly. I should like to know people like Mario and Paddy and Bill the moocher, not from casual encounters, but intimately; I should like to understand what really goes on in the souls of Plongeurs and tramps and Embankment sleepers. At present I do not feel that I have seen more than the fringe of poverty. Still I can point to one or two things I have definitely learned by being hard up. I shall never again think that all tramps are drunken scoundrels, nor expect a beggar to be grateful when I give him a penny, nor be surprised if men out of work lack energy, nor subscribe to the Salvation Army, nor pawn my clothes, nor refuse a handbill, nor enjoy a meal at a smart restaurant. That is a beginning. George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, 1933 % Si sa che la vita è un triste fader, ma c'è sempre un glitch che ti tira su (dal libro "la saggezza di ISO") Carlo Lari, da un e-mail, 8/5/2001 % Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain % Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated Mark Twain % Fly free and happy beyond birthdays and across forever, and we'll meet now and then when we wish, in the midst of the one celebration that never can end. Richard Bach, There's No Such Place As Far Away, 1990 % ... io mi trovo ora in una condizione così eccezionale, che posso considerarmi come già fuori della vita, e dunque senza obblighi e senza scrupoli di sorta. Cominciamo. Luigi Pirandello, Il Fu Mattia Pascal, 1904 % Elogio della fuga Quando non può più lottare contro il vento e il mare per seguire la sua rotta, il veliero ha due possibilità: l'andatura di cappa (il fiocco a collo e la barra sottovento) che lo fa andare alla deriva, o la Fuga davanti alla tempesta con il mare in poppa e un minimo di tela. La Fuga è spesso, quando si è lontani dalla costa, il solo modo di salvare barca ed equipaggio. E in più permette di scoprire rive sconosciute che spuntano all'orizzonte delle acque tornate calme. Rive sconosciute che saranno per sempre ignorate da coloro che hanno l'illusoria fortuna di poter seguire la rotta dei carghi e delle petroliere, la rotta senza imprevisti imposta dalle compagnie di navigazione. Forse conoscete quella barca che si chiama: Desiderio. Henri Laborit, Elogio della Fuga, 1976 % Quand il ne peut plus lutter contre le vent et la mer pour poursuivre sa route, il y a deux allures que peut encore prendre un voilier : la cape (le foc bordé à contre et la barre dessous) le soumet à la dérive du vent et de la mer, et la fuite devant la tempête en épaulant la lame sur l'arrière avec un minimum de toile. La fuite reste souvent, loin des côtes, la seule façon de sauver le bateau et son équipage. Elle permet aussi de découvrir des rivages inconnus qui surgiront à l'horizon des calmes retrouvés. Rivages inconnus qu'ignoreront toujours ceux qui ont la chance apparente de pouvoir suivre la route des cargos et des tankers, la route sans imprévu imposée par les compagnies de transport maritime. Vous connaissez sans doute un voilier nommé « Désir ». Henri Laborit, Éloge de la fuite, 1976 % You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before, she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect, you aren't either, the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, admit to being human & making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break; her heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her, don't analyze, and don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there. Bob Marley (Apparently in an interview widely quoted on the Internet) % E quando fuori dalla tua finestra il cielo si fa piu' grigio... E quando dentro ai tuoi pensieri si insinua un senso di amarezza... E quando avverti una crescente mancanza di energia... E quando ti senti profondamente solo... Ecco, quello e' il giorno dell'appuntamento col tuo bilancio sentimentale. Generalmente non e' un bel giorno... e non tanto perche' il cielo si fa un po' piu' grigio... quanto perche' tu ti fai un po' piu' schifo. Giorgio Gaber, L'equazione, da "E pensare che c'era il pensiero", 1994 % Accadono cose che sono come domande. Passa un minuto, oppure anni, e poi la vita risponde. Alessandro Baricco, Castelli di rabbia, 1991 % Que l'importance soit dans ton regard, non dans la chose regardée. André Gide % If you are holding onto a rising balloon you are presented with a difficult political decision - let go while you've still got the chance or hold onto the rope and continue getting higher. That's politics man. We are at the end of an age. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is nearly over. They're selling hippy wigs in Woolworths. It is 91 days to the end of the decade and as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black. Ralph Brown (alias Danny), from "Withnail & I", Bruce Robinson, 1987 % Danny : Where exactly have you two been? Marwood : A trip to the countryside. Danny : That is a very good idea. London is a city coming down from its trip and there's going to be a lot of refugees. Paul McGann (alias 'I' or Peter Marwood) & Ralph Brown (alias Danny), from "Withnail & I", Bruce Robinson, 1987 % If I should never find you in this life, let me feel the lack. One glance from your eyes, and my life will be yours. Sean Penn (alias 1st Sergeant Welsh), from "The Thin Red Line", Terrence Malick, 1998 % Love. Where does it come from? Who lit this flame in us? No war can put it out, conquer it. I was a prisoner. You set me free. Ben Chaplin (alias Private Bell), from "The Thin Red Line", Terrence Malick, 1998 % What is this great evil? How did it steal into the world? From what seed, what root did it spring? Who's doing this? Who's killing us? Robbing us of light and life. Mocking us with the sight of what we might have known. John Dee Smith (alias Private Train), from "The Thin Red Line", Terrence Malick, 1998 % Oh my soul, let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes, look out at the things you've made. All things shining. James Caviezel (alias Private Witt), from "The Thin Red Line", Terrence Malick, 1998 % I've waited all my life for this. I've worked, slaved, eaten untold buckets of shit to have this opportunity and I don't intend to give it up now. Nick Nolte (alias Colonel Tall) from "The Thin Red Line", Terrence Malick, 1998 % Why should I be afraid to die? I belong to you. If I go first, I'll wait for you there, on the other side of the dark waters. Be with me now. Ben Chaplin (alias Private Bell), from "The Thin Red Line", Terrence Malick, 1998 % For one human being to love another that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks the ultimate, the last test and proof the work for which all other work is but preparation Rainer Maria Rilke % Io la vita l'ho goduta tutta, a dispetto di tutto quello che vanno dicendo sul manicomio. Io la vita l'ho goduta perche' mi piace anche l'inferno della vita, e la vita e' spesso un inferno... Per me la vita e' stata bella perche' l'ho pagata cara. Alda Merini % It was all, as I was warned at the very outset, one "bel casino". And standing there, drenched by the rain, I realised that I didn't want to live, couldn't even imagine living, anywhere else. Tobias Jones, "The Dark Heart of Italy: Travels Through Time and Space Across Italy", 2003 % The trouble is that there's something slightly absurd about accusing Berlusconi of being a Fascist. It's ridiculous to say that Italy isn't a democracy. Then again, it seems equally ridiculous to say that it is. Tobias Jones, "The Dark Heart of Italy: Travels Through Time and Space Across Italy", 2003 % Io mi trovavo bene fra quelle persone che sono arrivate al capolinea dell'umanita', che ridono, urlano, scoppiano a piangere per i motivi piu' insensati. E poi se ne stanno seduti intorno a un tavolo senza discorsi inutili, semplicemente seduti, verso le nove di sera, con una tazza di tisana tra le mani. Mi sono sempre piaciuti i disadattati, gli sfigati, i ciccioni, i fuori dal mondo, quelli che non ce la fanno, quelli che parlano con la Madonna, quelli che passano il tempo a tingere i capelli a una bambola, che sono tagliati fuori dalle conversazioni educate, dalle belle macchine, dai conti in banca, dalle vetrine coi vestiti eleganti. I loro occhi non mi lasciano in pace, e nemmeno i loro corpi sfatti e consumati dalla battaglia. Puo' darsi che ci sia troppa ingenuita' in tutto questo, ma per me quegli sbandati si battono in prima linea. Sono i guerrieri dell'umanita'. Rossana Campo, Sono pazza di te, 2001, Feltrinelli % Avete smesso di sognare, di desiderare. Avete appaltato la liberta' alle aziende che ve la restituiscono trasformata in cose da comprare. Sono le multinazionali del consumo che desiderano per voi. Siete diventati voialtri l'oggetto del desiderio. Sono gli oggetti che vi stanno comprando. Tu hai comprato una macchina nuova? No, fratello, e' la macchina che ha comprato te. Tu sarai il suo schiavo con i soldi. I soldi per l'assicurazione, per il bollo, per la benzina, per i ricambi. Tu non hai comprato un cazzo, fratello. Sono i gelati, che ti leccano, gli occhiali che ti guardano, i computer che ti memorizzano e le automobili che ti guidano. Tu desideravi altro, ragazzo, ma non te lo ricordi piu'. Prova a ricordarti che cosa desideravi da bambino, prima che i genitori ti seviziassero con quintali di giocattoli inutili. Da quel tempo sei entrato a Alcatraz. Sono anni che viviamo insieme in questa cella. Apri gli occhi, tesoro, la felicita' non sai cosa sia, la liberta' neanche, i desideri neppure. Diego Cugia, "Alcatraz: Jack Folla, un DJ nel braccio della morte", 1999 % This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Laurence Fishburne (alias Morpheus), from "The Matrix", Andy and Larry Wachowski, 1999 % I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world... without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there... is a choice I leave to you. Keanu Reeves (alias Neo), from "The Matrix", Andy and Larry Wachowski, 1999 % That is our job: to be bold. Not to tinker about at the margins, 'greening' corporations , waffling about 'sustainability', proposing voluntary targets, issuing policy papers, settling for better-than-nothing, politely gathering the crumbs from the table. Our job, now, is to call for everything we want, as loudly as we can, and to keep calling until we get it. Who knows, we might even surprise ourselves. We will certainly surprise the world. And if not us, then who? If not now, then when? Paul Kingsnorth, "One No, Many Yeses, A Journey To The Heart Of The Global Resistance Movement", Free Press, 2003 % When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Hunter Stockton Thompson, Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl, 1974 % Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness. Robertson Davies % At the door I stood on a chair and overlooked the crowd of potential skeletons. In eighty years the lot of us would be dead. We lived, having no choice, as if that were not so, as if we were not alone, as if there would not come a moment when each of us would see that our lives were over, that we were driving wihtout brakes towards a brick wall. Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia, 1990 % However angry I was with him, however much I wanted to humiliate Terry, I suddenly saw such humanity in his eyes, and in the way he tried to smile - such innocence in the way he wanted to understand me, and such possibility of pain, along with the implicit assumption that he wouldn't be harmed - that I pulled away. I went to the other side of the room. I sat staring at the wall. I thought about torture and gratuituos physical pain. How could it be possible to do such things when there'd be certain looks that would cry out to you from the human depths, making you feel so much pity you could weep for a year? Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia, 1990 % After this there were hours of congratulation and drinking and so many people around our table I didn't have to talk much. I could think about the past and what I'd been through as I'd struggled to locate myself and learn what the heart is. Perhaps in the future I would live more deeply. And so I sat in the centre of this old city that I loved, which itself sat at the bottom of a tiny island. I was surrounded by people I loved and I felt happy and miserable at the same time. I thought of what a mess everything had been, but that it wouldn't always be that way. Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia, 1990 % Lying I don't recommend. Except in certain circumstances. Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy, 1998 % I can't say I haven't learned more in this crucible that I've learned anywhere: the education of a heart, slightly cracked, if not broken in places. Whether I will survive the knowledge and put it to good use - whether any of us will - is another matter. Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy, 1998 % Adults used to say that to me as a child. "It's only a phase". For some people - Buddhists, I believe, - life is only a phase. Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy, 1998 % The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions Alfred Adler % It is all too easy to attribute to the political class, both of left and right, the sole responsibility for the failures of a State or a society. In the last analysis, the strength of a democracy in a single country does not depend only upon the capability or the integrity ofits ruling elite, but also upon the culture of its families and the energy of its citizens. Paul Ginsborg, "Italy and Its Discontents : Family, Civil Society, State (1980-2001)" % For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. Albert Camus % The only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated. Oscar Wilde % We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we've chosen to do with our life. We could be sitting in a monastery somewhere in Japan. We could be out sailing. Some could be playing golf. And we've all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it. Steve Jobs % If the statistics are boring, then you've got the wrong numbers. Edward Tufte, "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" %