people-from-turin

"I should seem to have on my face the brand of a coward, and to have cut the thread of my predestination, if I opposed myself to the call of God."

"(on the Plato's andrgyn myth reported in the Symposium) Early humans belonged to three genders: the male, the female and the androgynous, provided with both reproductive organs. But the men angered the gods, and Jupiter decided to punish them by slicing them in two. Since then the androgyne has been wandering in search of his opposite-sex half. And the same thing is done - much to the monsignor's chagrin - by the halved male and female, who find peace only in reuniting with the missing half that is identical to them. The divine energy that moves the dance of all these halves is called love and is the same for everyone, straight and homosexual. Thus, perversions are not daughters of Jupiter's axe, but of the obsessive thoughts of certain men, mostly male and mostly bigoted."

"I always calculate everything, everything I am I have studied at my desk. I control myself, always."

"The unique position I find myself in thanks to my marriage gives me the opportunity to meet people I would never have met otherwise, to give a voice to those who do not have one, and to draw public attention to causes that are close to my heart. It is a unique opportunity that I do not want to pass up."

"Royal. I don't really like him, but I will always vote for the left, as my parents have always done."

"Human beings cannot be faithful. I take what men believe to be their biological right and, if I feel like it, I go with someone else. I give him the image of fidelity, the same that I demand from him."

"Communication works like this: the image of a woman today is that her power is control, but it is a suggestion, it is like showing a beautiful photo."

"I was part of an artistic community. We were bohemians, we were left-wing, but at that time I was voting in Italy. I have never voted for the left in France, and I can tell you, I'm not about to start now. I don't really feel left-wing anymore. There have been certain events, certain comments, particularly following the Polanski-Mitterrand affair. I heard socialist leaders saying the same things as those from the National Front. That really shocked me.""

"My role attracts media attention. Attention that I hope to direct towards important causes, which unfortunately still attract little interest. I hope to draw the public's attention to those who fight exemplarily every day to improve the lives of others. The more visible their work is, the more it will be supported by the general public, and the more likely they will be to obtain the necessary means to continue and develop their activities."

"What bothers me about ageing is the tiredness, feeling less physically strong. As for aesthetics, I preferred being twenty, but I feel sorry for the crazy battle against age. Besides, I had so many beautiful photos, beautiful moments when I was young, I used my body to the fullest. Obviously, I take care of myself, I'm careful, but more for my health."

"I can't stand discos: they are full of smoke and people jumping around and going there to pick someone up."

"That was America in 1992! So Obama's arrival is obviously a source of immense joy. For me, for everyone who loves America. For all French people, including one whom I know quite well. I know how hopeful we all are, full of expectations. On the contrary, when I hear Silvio Berlusconi taking the event lightly and joking that Obama is “always tanned”, it strikes me as odd. You could put it down to humour... But often, I am very happy to have become French!"

"First, I am a Sarkozy supporter. [...] I am an ultra-Sarkozy supporter. [...] I am no longer, at all, on the left."

"I am proud of my bottom. It is difficult for a white woman to achieve such perfection. And I find that the bottom is very important in contemporary sensuality. It is sexy and modern. And practical. Unlike large breasts, which are old-fashioned and uncomfortable."

"Image is the fracture of contemporaneity. Rereading the myth of Narcissus as an adult, you understand that he dies not because he loves his image, but because he prefers his image to himself. I am convinced that our individual relationship with our image is quickly established in childhood: what is this reflection for you? It is you. Do you accept yourself as you are? OK. But usually we are disappointed or vain, because we are divided: half of us are animals, half of us feel like God."

"I am a materialist, I am not interested in ideals, and men who are too intense scare me."

"I was fortunate enough to grow up healthy, in a privileged and artistic environment. I would like to be able to pass on some of this good fortune to those who have not been so lucky. The fight against AIDS is a cause I have supported for many years. The fashion world in which I worked was severely affected by this disease and mobilised from the outset."

"I feel as French as I do Italian. Today, my life is in France, but my heart, my roots and my culture belong equally to both countries, and I am proud to have dual nationality. My greatest joy, but also my greatest dilemma, would be if France and Italy met again in the World Cup final."

"We spent several days in South Carolina for a photo shoot. But Naomi Campbell and I always had lunch in our caravan, even though there was a good restaurant nearby. When I asked why, they told me that Naomi would never be allowed in because she was black. Seeing Obama win was therefore a source of immense joy."

"She is not only beautiful, but she is intelligent, dynamic and sincere. Every time I saw her, she asked me how the Tibetan cause was going! Moreover, Nicolas Sarkozy is the only French president who met me face to face, perhaps thanks to Carla, who understands Tibetan spirituality."

"There are two ways to approach Jesus: with the approach of "the wise" who doubt his words, or with that of simple people, who give witness to the miracles of Christ and have eyes to see the Awaited."

"I bring the Pope's greetings, his Apostolic Blessing and his fervent wish that your nation continues to move forward in peace and stability, on a path of development that may become a model of unity and progress with respect for human rights and the environment whereby all its people can prosper and even the most vulnerable will not suffer marginalization or neglect. And all by remaining faithful in spite of great hardships - to its humane ideals."

"our society can improve only if the next generation is given the chance, through loving and intelligent education, to be better developed than the present one."

"this transformation is really the key now, isn’t it, to our living: to be able to transform. (1968)"

"Service or giving is the other side of receiving. Giving and receiving is a full circle: a full circle feels more natural than a half circle."

"We should train ourselves in the use of imagination when we are well, so that we are ready to use it when we are not."

"Our creative potential has many aspects, but undoubtedly the most important one is to make good use of ourselves and what we are here and now, at each successive moment."

"For this purpose it is necessary to keep in sharp focus a fact of which often we are not aware: we are at all times a connecting link, one of many links, in a chain reaction of related events. Each of us is the product of many chains: the evolutionary chain, the racial chain, the genetic chain, the environmental chain, and many others. The immense mass of events of which we are alternately the cause and the effect surpasses the human imagination."

"It’s marvelous when you think of words. If you just think of any one word, not just thinking about how it came about in the expression, but just what your mouth does to pronounce that word (1968)"

"focus your mind and respect your body. But mostly love your heart. I think that is where to begin, from there and then it goes out...Love your heart. It really is to love yourself to begin with and help everybody else in doing the same. But the heart being the center. You can focus your mind. You can respect your body. All of that is important. Then if you love your heart, this can be transmitted to other people. I mean you can help anybody that wants to do the same."

"Let us initiate a change in ourselves, for then, and then only, shall we be able to effect a change in other people. When we change, others change too. And circumstances change in a manner that is almost miraculous. The initial change has to come from inside ourselves."

"Like any other faculty, imagination can be starved and suffocated or stimulated and nourished."

"Beauty, well, it's one of the greatest, greatest gifts. I feel sorry sometimes because people are so worried and so involved in something that they don't have even five minutes to look at something beautiful. I find beauty almost everywhere."

"Our task is to find ways in which the energy evoked by negative emotions can be transformed, in a manner compatible with civilized living, into harmless-or better-into positively useful energy. Our purpose, then, is to become expert and voluntary energy transformers instead of involuntary energy victims. Like everything else, this takes practice."

"There are almost as many ways of helping people to feel better as there are human beings."

"Infinity and eternity are the limits of imagination. You can project your imagination into the past or into the future; you can destroy an old image that has troubled you or create a new one that will rejoice you."

"There is danger in everything that we do. We are to eat food otherwise we don’t live and sometimes we eat food that is very damaging...Or addicted to food. Oh, yes, addiction to food is unfortunately really grave, also to alcohol or to anything else. But these drugs can be such an extraordinary gift, really. Some, not all drugs. Again, how can we speak about "drugs"? It is like speaking about the human race—each person is different, each drug is different!"

"creativity is not the monopoly of the Shakespeares and Einsteins of this world. There is a science of intelligent living, an art of being fully human, in which we all can and ought to be creative. To use our imagination is part of the total art of being. To imagine other people's imagination is part of the art of being with others."

"(How have psychedelics helped or harmed or influenced you?) LAH: I was deeply affected. They gave me a much wider view of the world, as well as a much wider view of our ignorance, and ignorance, according to the Buddha, is our basic difficulty. Psychedelics and the process of aging make that clear to me all the time."

"Although we would not consider ourselves the target of a hurricane or a tidal wave, we often feel we are the victims of meteorological disturbances in the minds of other people. Sometimes it is true; people are trying to hurt us. But most of the time they are merely exploding, and we happen to be nearby-a conveniant substitute for their real target."

"we must want not to be the target. There is a widespread though subterranean feeling that to be made to suffer to be a victim- is somehow an admirable position on earth and a good ticket to a special place in heaven...If you know that you carry this belief in your own mind, ask yourself this question: When do I do the most good for myself and for others: When I am suffering-Or when I am happy?"

"Scientific research is the art of asking the right question in the right way."

"Disguised in a thousand forms, hidden under an infinite variety of masks, love starvation is even more rampant than food starvation. It invades all classes and all peoples. It occurs in all climates, on every social and economic level. It seems to occur in all forms of life. Love starvation wears the stony face of the disciplinarian or speaks in the hysterical voice of the zealot. It puts on the unctuous manner of the hypocrite or the ruthlessness of the ambitious power-seeker."

"You alone can change yourself, and when you do, then circumstances and people will both seem and be changed."

"Often a question, the first one, is not the real question at all but a substitute which our unconscious self has artfully framed to protect our superficial comfort from being disturbed by a deeper, more troubling doubt."

"Imagine what life would be like without imagination! There would be no Michelangelo or Da Vinci, no Edison, no delinquents and no saints, no Mozart, no nuclear power."

"Love starvation may camouflage itself in physical and mental ills, in delinquency, sometimes in death. In a family, love starvation begets love starvation in one generation after another until a rebel in that family breaks the malevolent chain. If you find yourself in such a family, BE THAT REBEL!"

"each of us has a choice. We can passively take our place in the negative chain, accepting the harm to ourselves and passing it on to others. Or we can break the chain and turn the energy of a destructive emotion into a constructive action. Energy is neutral. It is what we do with it that makes it destructive or creative, harmful or healing."

"War is the most terrifying example of energy directed against ourselves, and yet it was a great relief for many people throughout history. War provided them with a legitimate outlet for their aggressive feelings and an escape from their boredom. Even the humblest factory job acquired a glow of righteousness and patriotism. It is sadly significant that the number of suicides always declines during a war. A nuclear war would provide none of the satisfactions of past wars-no marching, no brass bands, no heroism. Like termites fumigated in their nests, we would all be exterminated, on any side of any curtain, by a stupendous gadget paid for by our hard-earned money and of which we were supposed to be proud. This gadget is the most powerful of all man-made transformers of energy."

"Self-questioning is a first step on the path to self-awareness. And this awareness is a precondition for making the most of our lives. It is our protection against unnecessary mental suffering and physical illness, and our aid in coping with these when they cannot be avoided. Being aware is the way toward finding fulfillment in our relationships with others, of bringing all our store of healthy energy to living and working."