All Quotes

"This great anti-Fascist body of men have assured me that they will fight side by side with the Indian peoples."

"The honour you have done me is really the honour to the cause of democracy and freedom which Spanish workers and peasants are defending with their lives. [...] The fight for democracy is in India just as it is in Spain. The very same British Imperialism which helps Franco and Mussolini in their attempt to destroy Spain is holding us down. We have to fight against it. We have to build the unity of the workers, peasants and the middle classes just as the Spanish people have done."

"I brought it to his [Hedgewar's] notice that the RSS remained a static organisation and that it did not develop into a dynamic movement, while we know that it was the dynamism of a movement alone that made an organisation powerful—otherwise it degenerated into a samsthan [...] The RSS had to guard against this danger which helped the growth of complacency and self-righteousness. My words fell on deaf ears and all my efforts to woo the Sarsanghchalak came to a naught."

"One evening, he [Bose] called me to his place in Bombay [...] One Mr. Shah, with whom I was not acquainted, was with him. Netaji asked me if I would be his emissary to Dr. Hedgewar, with whom he would like to have a talk. He asked me to go to Nasik where Dr. Hedgewar was spending the summer with Babasaheb Ghatate [...] Mr. Shah was to accompany me [...] In Nasik, Babasaheb greeted me warmly and enquired about our mission. I told him that we had come to see Doctorsaheb. Mr. Shah waited outside and I was ushered into the room where Doctorsaheb was joking and laughing with some youngsters—all volunteers of the RSS [...] Doctorsaheb protested that he had been in Nasik as he was ill and was suffering from some unknown malady [...] I entreated him not to give up this chace of an interview with a great leader of the Congress and the nationalist force in India, but he would not pay heed to me. He protested all through that he was too ill to have a talk [...] As I left the room, the RSS volunteers entered and laughter broke out again."

"If I thought my apprenticeship was over, I would be the first to be done for. It's a stimulus that you need all the time, otherwise you risk feeling like you've got nothing left to learn."

"What pisses me off the most is that it seems like if I wear a miniskirt or a revealing dress – because maybe I like myself like that at the moment – then what I say carries less weight, as if to talk about serious things I have to dress the way people expect me to dress to talk about certain topics."

"You don't need to know if a relationship will work. It needs to start."

"I'm 40, not 20, when your hormones are going crazy, your head is full of dreams, and your future is in your hands. I'm 40, not 60. You've worked out who you are, you've won your battles, and you've given up on the ones that weren't right for you anymore. Your 40s are the stage of self-awareness. It's a middle-earth, like the one in The Lord of the Rings. You have to start getting to know yourself again. You look in the mirror and only see flaws, because they teach you to stop time, not to accept it, which is the biggest challenge. Accepting change […] by giving yourself centre stage."

"Interviewer: What memories do you have of your time at school as a pupil? Delogu: I felt like I was in a kind of trance, as if I were in a suspended world. I couldn't understand why my classmates understood and learned concepts so quickly, while I had to struggle with them."

"Support for people with dyslexia cannot be left to personal sensitivity and goodwill. What is needed is specific teacher training. And here in Italy, we're behind on this."

"I have no taboos about my body. That's just the way I am. I joke that I dress for your decency, not mine."

"(About Mara Venier) Her way of hosting, of running a salon. You can't learn the kind of chemistry she has. You either have it or you don't. She is a great professional and a great woman. She has given so much of herself in so many battles. What's more, Renzo always speaks very highly of her. And I knew she was a wonderful person, even though I’d never met her. But standing in front of her and seeing how, even while sitting, she can fill the studio and make it a part of herself was a great lesson."

"[When asked what a dyslexic person lacks] Automatism. When you learn to drive, you have to think carefully about pulling the clutch, engaging the gear, and starting the car. These are all things that you gradually learn to do in the right order, but once you've done it five, six, seven, a thousand times, it becomes automatic. That automaticity that people with dyslexia lack."

"[...] It seems that only if you become a mother are you a grown-up and have done your duty in the world."

"[About dyslexia, a condition he suffers from] The mind of a dyslexic person is more 'artistic' and relies heavily on interpretation. So, drawing is easier for them, partly because of the colours. I'm a black belt at puzzles. When I was little, I was one of the few girls who could solve those tiny house puzzles with the coloured holes on top. [...] I block them with complete peace of mind now. I've got the fastest finger in the West."

"Interviewer: What aspect of "Emilia Romagna has stayed with you? Delogu: Determination. "Don't despair, there's a solution" is the phrase I heard most often."

"(About the EasyReading font that helps people with dyslexia overcome reading difficulties) [...] What amazes me is that many people didn't know about the existence of a special, highly readable font. What's more, it's an Italian invention […], a way of reading that is easier for people with dyslexia, but also much more convenient for those without dyslexia. What's more, some of the letters aren't the same, so text can be read more smoothly."

"(The letters of the alphabet: a stumbling block for people with dyslexia) They're difficult because they only have meaning in that particular position."

"The strange thing? For me, as someone who is dyslexic, an 'A' can twist in a thousand different ways and become a shape, not necessarily a fixed symbol. The letters kind of fly around because my mind is processing them. This used to make me suffer a bit: the rules of writing come in forcefully, and you have to deal with them."

"I've learnt a few little tricks that have put me on a par with the others. It's as if I'd made my own glasses, and now I can see perfectly."

"Sometimes, when I'm tired, my words get mixed up: I'm fond of them, and my husband always laughs at that."

"Arbore, Frassica and Giusti are artists I work well with because they haven't imposed any rules or judgements on me. Success came three years ago, and so did professionalism. But I know that my distinctive way of presenting is down to my dyslexia: I don't follow what the writers have written; instead, I make the concept of the programme my own and internalise it."

"I realised that [film making] is truly a team effort, much more so than TV. When you present a programme, you're at the forefront and you have the opportunity to set the pace and provide a unifying theme for the production. A film, on the other hand, is a montage of lots of scenes, most of which you're not in. On set, everyone is on an equal footing, and you put yourself in the director's hands."

"Interviewer: What does body positivity mean to you? Delogu: It definitely means being at peace with yourself, but it also means not pissing other people off. If other people's opinions can help me develop and grow, I welcome them with open arms. On the other hand, if it's expressed solely to assert oneself at the expense of my peace of mind, then no. I'd be tempted to say: 'Who actually believes you?'"

"I'm dyslexic in an Italy that doesn't even know how to pronounce the name of this disorder [...]. From a young age, I had to build a shield around myself so I wouldn't let all those people who called me stupid get to me. If I'm not intimidated by criticism today, it's only because I grew up in a very tough environment, like a minefield."

"Interviewer: [...] Is it true that you have rediscovered the Gospel? Delogu: Yes [...]. As a child, I received a Christian upbringing, but catechism had been somewhat imposed on me, with a harsh, not very inclusive approach. At the tender age of 38, I picked up the Gospel again – I had felt a bit put off by it before – and I rediscovered it: in some ways, I also felt a bit deceived, because what I had in my hands was a very inclusive text, one of love and understanding for others. I realise these might seem like trivial observations, but for me, a new path has opened up."

"My secret is that I can't sit still – I always need to find something new. I have an attention deficit disorder, and it gives me so much: I have to channel all my energy into a relatively short period of time, and I try to do it as best I can. I think it's one of my strengths, and I'm happy that people like it."

"Because I do so many different things, the people who appreciate me and follow me sometimes come to me from different backgrounds, from different places. Perhaps what people like about me is that I always engage on an equal footing with those who follow me and appreciate my work: I speak directly, and if something goes wrong, I'll argue [laughs, ed.] and then make up."

"In my life, my revolutionary nature has shown itself in the fact that I haven't changed according to what I've been asked to do. I've never 'changed my tune' because of someone else's decision, but only when it was the right time for me, when I felt I wanted to reinvent myself. I've sometimes been asked to be less feisty or, during my first auditions, less approachable and to adopt a more detached style of presenting...I haven't given in."

"Interviewer: [...] you revealed that you have dyslexia. What did this discovery mean to you?'}}"

"I just live, without that anxiety that used to take everything away from me, the anxiety of having to answer society's questions. [...] When are you going to have a child? When are you going to do a more important programme? So, when are you going to grow up? But I've realised that growing up isn't compulsory – only maturing is. Interviewer: What's the difference? Delogu: Growing up is associated with a certain idea of becoming an adult, which means being a serious, calm and predictable person. But that's not who I am, and that's not who I want to be. [...] Between the ages of 30 and 38, like many people, I had become complacent about who I was. I used to say to myself: this is who I am, this is my life, this is what I've chosen. For so many years, I wore a mask – the mask of a reassuring person, someone who would be good at starting a family. I had put myself in a position where I had to answer other people's questions. My divorce was precisely the opportunity for me to change. I looked in the mirror and said to myself: 'What do I do now?' Do I die, or do I rebuild myself?'"

"When I was a child, I didn't think I'd turn out like this. I'm sarcastic, I have fun, I like to smile and be with other people, but I find it hard to trust people, and I also really enjoy being on my own. And I have an immense need to create. I realised this while crying one day, and the next day in the shower, with Max Pezzali playing in the background."

"Interviewer: She realised she wanted to do TV when she was a teenager, in Rimini... Delogu: I was 14. We were at an event where everyone was waiting for Cristina D'Avena, who was late."

"Interviewer: In your work, is luck more important than determination? Delogu: Luck is the variable; determination is the daily kick-start: without it, I would have given up years ago. Those who win are the ones who grit their teeth, who know their limits but still set themselves ambitious goals."

"I was 19 when I registered for VAT, thanks to Gialappa's. We were a group of dancers in miniskirts and boots who made fun of the phenomenon of 'letterine' and 'veline'. Every now and then, people bring up that experience thinking they can discredit me, but it was actually thanks to Gialappa's Band and Mago Forest that, even though I was doing a job on the fringes of the industry, I came to understand TV and how it works."

"This idea that, if you're a beautiful woman, you shouldn't show it is absurd."

"(About Adriano Celentano) [...] He has the right to say what he wants, and I would have defended him even if he had said that gay people should be sent to concentration camps."

"Lucio Dalla's funeral is one of the most striking examples of what it means to be homosexual in Italy: you go to church, they let you have a funeral, and they bury you with a Catholic service, as long as you don't say you're gay. It's a symbol of who we are: there's permissiveness, as long as you look the other way."

"Indeed, the Protocols have served many dictatorships, and they continue to cause harm to this day. Those pages make it clear what intellectual poisoning actually consists of: the idea that the world is not a collective creation, but merely a canvas woven by the Few and the Powerful. This concept denies the role of individual human agency in shaping history; therefore, it also denies any principle of transparency and trust, without which there can be no human community."

"[...] We European women need to start a real discussion about what immigration is bringing to our countries; about the hardship, and about the very real threats to our physical safety that we experience on the streets, on buses, and in our city neighbourhoods."

"Pope Benedict XVI is an excellent theologian and an outstanding pastor."

"[...] (Abou the Italian Family Day) I took part because I believe the family is a part of humanity's heritage that deserves protection: the family is neither right-wing nor left-wing; it belongs to universal values."

"I remain an atheist and a Marxist, but I have the utmost appreciation for Catholic culture."

"We just need to normalise our hearts' not having boundaries. I think that there's this idea that we as public figures can't have thoughts or feelings because we are like paper dolls to a majority of the public."

"I'm a young Latina woman growing up in a primarily white area of town where I live. I've been called it all. My hate comments on YouTube tell me to go back to where I came from. I was born in Hackensack Hospital. I'll go back there."

"It's the most jarring feeling as someone who is quite literally in therapy for impostor syndrome. You're sitting at the table with the likes of these incredible actors, singers, activists, Olympians, models who have earned their due. They earned their seat at the table, and you can't help but think, 'What am I doing here?'"

"When I was in the running for María in 'West Side Story,' they kept calling to ask if I was legit. I remember thinking, 'Do you want me to bring my abuelita in?' I will. I'll bring her into the studio if you want to meet her."

"(About the Cirinnà Bill of Law) These problems are the result of a devious political strategy. In words, they said they wanted to create a new legal entity, a union between people of the same sex; in practice, they mimicked traditional marriage to the point of creating a hybrid."

"Despite the debate over the different roles that will be defined in the next stages of the institutional framework, all the political parties represent the community as a whole."

"Islam is a terminal cancer for the West; it must be eradicated before the metastases spread to Italy."