Authors From Italy

"[...] It is primarily thanks to Adriano Tilgher that Spengler became known in Italy, especially through his anthology on contemporary relativists. Tilgher can indeed be considered the “Italian Spengler.” There are many similarities between the Italian thinker and the author of ‘'The Decline of the West’': from historical-philosophical relativism to the comparative analysis of culture and events, art and civilization, from the sense of decadence to the “Faustian” category. Tilgher, in fact, claimed chronological priority, and in any case the autonomy, of his thought with respect to Spengler's."

"(About WikiLeaks) Come on, it's just after-dinner chatter, between coffee and digestif, nothing more. I think about what European, Vatican, Eastern, and Chinese diplomacy had been for centuries (by the way, nothing is said about China in the US; fear?). Sharp judgments and prudent assessments, true information and style of expression... Three thousand years of diplomacy and civilization down the toilet. Random thoughts stuck together with chewing gum. Of course, I don't rule out the possibility that there are serious, even threatening files beyond the merry-go-round for global idiots that was published yesterday. So let's leave the buffoonery aside and think about serious matters. [...] For the rest, the immediate effect of this cosmic gossip should be only one: close the embassies and open the hair salons. It is the most appropriate venue for such gossip."

"In the bleak month of December, it is heartening to cultivate a magnificent June within oneself."

"Marcel Proust traveled the 20th century in reverse, looking in the rearview mirror. He went back to the 19th century and revived it in the full modernist and futurist fervor of his time. Outside, the future raged, the Sun of the Future shone, and the beauty of machines and speed was sung. But inside his cork-lined room, the spasms of modernity did not reach him; the journey was accomplished in his enamored mind, together with an extraordinary revolution, in the astronomical sense."

"The real novelty of the Meloni government is, for now, lexical and can be summed up in four verbal keywords: Merit, Birth Rate, Made in Italy, Food Sovereignty."

"In Asor we contemplate the failure of the practical and political left, that of struggle and government, ridiculous in its maximalism but also pathetic in its decisiveness, a fake left that pretends to be right-wing, and therefore doubly fake."

"The conservative party balances haste with slowness, the local with the global, the artificial with the natural, novelty with memory, mobility with roots. And this corresponds to a biological need, since we need both novelty and disruption as well as security and persistence. Conservatives are realists, they have a sense of proportion, limits, and boundaries, they know that life inhales and exhales, has systole and diastole, is a round trip."

"Liberalism would like to be the ideology that transcends the categories of right and left, indeed pulverizing ideologies and presenting itself as something beyond them. Its totem is the market and its natural habitat, its horizon is capitalist society, which does not get on well with conservative movements, but definitely does not get on well with left-wing statist models. If, on the other hand, we move to the level of customs, family, and civil rights, then the liberal spirit is more to the left, but it borders on the radical."

"(According to Glenn Alexander Magee) Hegel is a hermetic thinker: he replaced the philosopher with the sage and philosophy with theosophy, drawing on the Kabala, Alchemy, Rosicrucians, Gnosis and the Hermetic tradition, from Hermes Trismegistus onwards, in a broad line that goes from Meister Eckhart to Böhme, from Agrippa to Lullo and Paracelsus, from Pico della Mirandola to Giordano Bruno, to occultism and spiritism, astrology and the esotericism of Freemasonry. Hegel refers to an Invisible Church in his correspondence with Schelling and Hölderlin... But Hegel remains a Christian and a professor, not a magician or esotericist. He is inspired more by Luther than by Paracelsus."

"(Referring to a little girl who wants to be called “Silvia Berlusconi” and her parents) There is no conversation with adults that does not lead to Berlusconi. When her little brother Andrea Riccardo asked his parents, “But why does God exist?” she immediately asked, “Mom, why does Silvio Berlusconi exist?”, grasping the connection between the two questions."

"This country cannot continue to be a poor copy of television, its appendage and its monkey."

"Do they prefer to burn Italy rather than waste? They deserve to live in garbage rather than in Italy. They have chosen to incinerate their nationality rather than their garbage. If illegal immigrants can be expelled, then Italians who offend their own country should also be expelled. On their identity cards, under nationality, remove Italian and write: garbage. They deserve to be represented by garbage."

"(About Fausto Gianfranceschi A man of the right, sanguine and direct, a Roman Catholic, not just in name, a ‘reactionary’ [...] A lively polemicist [...] he was one of the first human and cultural references I knew when I arrived in Rome as a boy."

"Gypsies & Garbage bins, human garbage and urban garbage. There are two theories circulating: since the right wing with the Lega has been in government, gypsies and immigrants are two chapters of the garbage emergency. The other theory says: no, the right wing and the Lega are in government because people consider gypsies and immigrants to be two chapters of the waste emergency."

"Every time Professor De Mattei criticizes Darwin, evolutionism, and relativism, fights abortion and euthanasia, and finally argues that catastrophes are divine punishment, the defenders of freedom and tolerance rise up in indignation, not to criticize him, as is understandable, but to expel him from the National Research Council."

"Fini eliminated Fascism as if it were a kidney stone."

"Revisionists are those who rethink their own ideas as well as historical facts."

"Democracy is based on the possibility of choosing and sending one group or another to government. [Until 1994] this did not exist: democracy was guaranteed through quotas of local or peripheral power subcontracted or granted to the opposition (on the left, of course). It was the so-called ‘consociationalism’. […] On the other hand, the media-cultural-judicial-trade union-employer-administrative system did not favor the growth of an alternative ruling class on the right. On the contrary, it bombarded every promising emergence, at the local and national, cultural and civil levels."

"Interviewer: You have identified a “Gruber style”: blunt, even aggressive responses. Did you study your character? Lilli Gruber: I never study characters. I just try to do my job with my back straight, without professional scoliosis. I could say that when women are determined, they become annoying and castrating, but when men are determined, they become decisive and virile. I'll leave it to others to judge the “Gruber style.”"

"You must say “not” to the men who deny you power, profit, and pleasure."

"I have great respect for journalism and journalists who do their job seriously. One of the fundamental principles of serious journalism is to distinguish information from entertainment. These two genres should not be mixed. Journalism is one thing, entertainment is another. For too many years now, we have been accustomed to seeing infotainment on TV, which has destroyed serious journalism. Be wary of those who want to sell you reality and information by entertaining you. But what does entertainment have to do with information and journalism? Nothing, absolutely nothing."

"(Speaking of propaganda during the Iraq War) Television fiction seems to be gradually replacing the reality of journalistic reporting. This is necessary to prevent public opinion from rebelling and putting pressure on governments that have already once ignored the protests of the majority of their citizens opposed to war in order to engage their country in a conflict with no way out. [...] Our leaders want us to live in the best of television worlds. Unfortunately, this paradise is the hell of democracy."

"Power may well be disgusting, as men keep telling us, but in the meantime, we want it."

"Never go against the flow, or you risk not reaching your goal."

"I felt, and still feel, the need to describe a very complex reality that is often reduced by the media to sterile clichés. This feeling has been reinforced by developments in relations with Islam since September 11, and the Iran issue is a striking example of this. Today, rather than proclaiming axes of evil, it is more important to build axes of good."

"The European Parliament is certainly a unique observatory where you often encounter the best and sometimes the worst of politics."

"In Scandinavian countries, but also in a large and important country like Germany, there are many women at the top of parties and institutions. As always, it is first and foremost a cultural problem and then a political one, which needs legislative incentives to evolve. Therefore, gender quotas, however odious from a philosophical point of view, remain a necessity for a transition period that should be as short as possible. Italy cannot afford the luxury of giving up the great resource that women represent."

"It is no longer tolerable that so many important countries in the world, from the US to Brazil, are in the hands of an international group of misogynistic rednecks who harm not only women, but everyone."

"I still remember a press conference in Amman with King Hussein of Jordan during the first Gulf War. I wanted to ask the king why he had grown a beard, but I was afraid it was a stupid question and didn't raise my hand. A colleague asked the question shortly afterwards and the king smiled and replied that it was to mask irritation caused by the stress of war. I was ashamed of my self-sabotage."

"We women must love Europe because it is the first and, for now, the only successful example of peaceful coexistence between nations to build a project of well-being and defense of fundamental values such as social and women's rights."

"In Italy, there is also a sense of impunity: if you are a man, and especially a man in power, you are untouchable. Women do not have the courage to report abuse, or are often harsher on other women, and men are mostly complicit. We have wasted decades on useless debates, such as the one on quotas. You have to start with facts and figures: where women have been included, there has been a rebalancing and companies have improved. Often, the self-harming behavior of those who do not want to be judged as a panda category comes into play. But whether you like it or not, we are judged and treated differently from men."

"Europe needs to be “fixed,” but not destroyed. For a thousand reasons, not least because it guarantees peace and democracy, two things that we, with our short memories, too often take for granted. The latest poll tells us that 8 out of 10 young Italians feel like European citizens. And that reassures me."

"(About South Tyrol) I am convinced that this land, seemingly small and peripheral compared to empires and republics, has been an important crossroads, both for the history of Europe and for that of our country."

"The battle for women's empowerment goes hand in hand with the battle for the survival of the planet."

"I am attacked every day on social media with intolerable sexism and vulgarity. This is also because the degradation of language becomes physical brutality and real violence. It is serious that there is no punishment: verbal violence—even anonymous violence, which is even more cowardly—must be punished immediately, and we have all the tools to do so."

"The incompetence of men in power is causing too much damage. We must no longer apologize for existing. We are more talented and more competent, and we demand power."

"Lilli Gruber, Basta! Il potere delle donne contro la politica del testosterone, Collana I Solferini, Milano, Solferino, 2019. ISBN 978-88-282-0311-7"

"The idea of borders and integration is in my DNA. [...] Precisely because, as a child, I was always considered “different.” At home, I spoke German, and our family traditions were decidedly Austro-Hungarian. But you can be different anywhere."

"The commentators represent different points of view, but they share the ability to offer original and non-trivial thinking. I find them well suited to an in-depth program."

"In all democracies, starting with the American one, if someone lies about their private life, what kind of politician can they ever be?"

"The three male “Vs”—vulgarity, violence, and visibility, the result of impotent and aggressive masculinity—must be replaced by empathy, diplomacy, and patience. Men must be re-educated. We have read many books about women who love too much or work too hard. Well, it's time for men who love too little or work too little to go back to school. Let them learn to be more feminine."

"Girls need to know that professional life is not a game of seduction. Would I dress sexy if I had a female boss?"

"I am appalled by rude and sexist politicians like Salvini who campaign in their underwear or Trump who say things like “you grab women by the p***y.” How can anyone think of entrusting the country to a man who has said such a thing? At the very least, he will mistreat women and citizens."

"I was seen as sour or aggressive, whereas if I had been a man, they would have said I was determined."

"In the third grade classroom, on a day I will never forget, a nun came in and told us how evil the Germans were, that they killed ten Italians for every one of their soldiers who died, and then used the fat from their corpses to make soap. [...] And in the class, suddenly silent, a classmate pointed her finger at me and exclaimed: “You're one of them too, Gruber!”"

"The King of Spaine weares at this day (perchance) a homely Cassocke of blacke Serge, many a Curate in his Country having a better; whereas the King of China gives not presence, but rarely at the great suit of his people, and that out at the window of a gilded chamber, himselfe gloriously shining in Rubies, in Gold and Diamonds; and that at such time too, as the Sunne shining upon him, even dazles the eyes of his adoring subjects, with the glitter of the reflection; and this they thinke the Sunne doth in favour of him, whence they call him, The Sonne of the Sunne."

"Of East, and West, what more can be spoken? To places parallel, the Sunne neither riseth, nor falleth. When it approacheth the South with us, (being about noone-tide) then is it said to fall, by the Easterne people; and contrariwise, then to rise by the Southerne. And therefore, as well to reconcile the doubts of the Ancients, as to satisfie the Curious, in these unrevealed workes of God, and his servant Nature; the Moderne Cosmographers have beene bold to suppose the finite limitation of the East, to determine in the Islands of the Molucca; and of the West in the Hesperides. For herein (say they) standeth the centre of the Globe, the Meridian of both Islands being 180 degrees distant one from another. On the other halfe of the Globe lieth America, divided from either angle by so immensible a tract of Sea, that it deserveth by it selfe, peculiar Bounds of East and West. As for that great Globe (commonly termed Australia) I had rather say with Bodin, That as yet, it is better set forth for shew than for certainty."

"Finally, politike enemies, have still given way to resolute, yea even when they were vanquished: A resolved or a famished enemie that would get loose or die, make him a bridge of gold to flee upon. Certainly, a couragious enemy is never despised, a politike one may bee."

"No place is to be held impregnable, whither an Asse laden with gold may get up. Two great effects it workes: First, it levies forces suddenly, and withall, keeps them long together: Secondly, a monied enemie may fight when he will, and but when he will, and must needs therefore weary out his adversary, and so at last endanger either to overthrow him, or force him to a faire composition. For want of pay Armies mutinie, and will neither muster nor fight; and especially the Germans. But Spinola hath made great use of a secret of warre, how in scarcitie of moneys to awe these mutiniers; and that is by paying and contenting the horse, and they shall keepe the foot in obedience. But this tricke will not alwayes serve, for in an Armie a man can hardly tell which is most necessary, armes, victuals, or money; this last alwayes fetches in both the other."

"The certainty of punishment is not undermined, or even almost nullified for some crimes, by these general, fair, just and humane principles, but by the abnormal length of our trials, which means that the majority of crimes (especially financial, economic and those against the public administration, in short, the crimes of “the powers that be”, politicians and privileged citizens) fall under the axe of the statute of limitations. This already unsustainable duration has been exacerbated in the last fifteen years, after Mani Pulite, by a series of so-called “guarantee” laws with which the Code of Criminal Procedure has been crammed and which, in reality, by ensuring the statute of limitations, only guarantee the impunity of the aforementioned gentlemen."