All Quotes

"To get things done, one needs all the time that is required."

"There must be no scapegoats, no human sacrifices... The Christian Democrats are closing ranks around their own... You will not put us on trial in the streets; we will not allow ourselves to be put on trial."

"Race is the biological element which, by creating particular affinities, determines the identification of the specific sphere of social experience, which is the primary distinguishing feature of the particularities of the State."

"When one speaks the truth, one must not regret having spoken it: the truth is always enlightening."

":Also quoted at the beginning of the film Five Moons Square."

"It is not enough to say this simply to have a clear conscience: we have our limits; we are politicians, and the most appropriate and reliable thing we can do is to give free rein to justice, to ensure that a judge – finally, a true judge – can deliver his verdict. :*from a speech to the Chamber of Deputies on the Lockheed scandal, 11 March 1977; from Scritti e discorsi, edited by Giuseppe Rossini, Cinque lune, 1982."

"Power is truly and solely legitimised through continuous contact with its human roots and is subject to an insurmountable limit: the social forces that matter in their own right, the growth of decision-making centres, and the pluralism that expresses the irreducible multiplicity of the free forms of community life. (during the 11th Congress of the Christian Democrats, Rome, 29 June 1969)"

"[At a summit at the Foreign Ministry following Aldo Moro’s speech] Anyone who speaks in this way can only be a swindler and can only represent a people of swindlers."

"We speak, with good reason, of a rift between civil society and political society, and we observe a certain crisis within the parties, a decline in their authority, and a diminished ability to resolve the problems of national life on the basis of understanding, consensus and trust. But is there not, at the root of this inadequate presence of the parties, an inability on our part, as the political class, to make use of the critical conscience and the willpower of the democratic grassroots?"

"Be independent. Do not look to tomorrow but to the day after tomorrow."

"(Writing to Benigno Zaccagnini) Due to an obvious incompatibility, I ask that neither State authorities nor party officials attend my funeral. I ask to be followed by the few who truly loved me and are therefore worthy of accompanying me with their prayers and their love."

"Returning to you, Hon. Andreotti, who, to our misfortune and that of the country (which will soon realise it), heads the Government, it is not my intention to dwell on your lacklustre career. This is no fault of yours. One can be lacklustre, yet honest; lacklustre, yet good; lacklustre, yet full of fervour. Well, Mr Andreotti, this is precisely what you lack [...] You lack precisely that human fervour. You lack that combination of goodness, wisdom, flexibility and clarity which, without reservation, characterise the few Christian Democrats in the world. You are not one of them. It will last a little longer, a little less, but it will pass without leaving a trace [...] It will pass into the sad annals of history, especially now, which suits you."

"One does not stand as a candidate for the Quirinale; one is nominated."

"Of course, I cannot fail to highlight the malice of all those Christian Democrats who sought to force me into a post against my will; a post which, had it been necessary for the Party, should have been secured for me even if it meant agreeing to a prisoner exchange. I am convinced that would have been the wisest course of action. Even at this critical juncture, my deep personal bitterness remains. Has no one come forward to distance themselves? Someone ought to tell Giovanni what political activity means. Has no one regretted pushing me to take this step, which I clearly did not want to take? And Zaccagnini? How can he remain calm in his position? And Cossiga, who could not come up with any defence? My blood will be on their hands."

"(Giulio Andreotti) President Carter’s diplomatic courtesy – attributing to you (it is clear he knows little about it) all the successes of the thirty-year Christian Democrat era – will not be enough for you to go down in history. You will go down in the sad annals of history, especially now, which suits you well."

"He had a sense of party loyalty. He was uncompromising, even intolerant. Perhaps he was less flexible than I was."

"Moro alive is of no use to anyone anymore."

"Aldo Moro was from Maglie, my mother’s home town. They used to play together as children. My mother, his sister Raffaella and Aldo – perhaps the only decent politician this country has ever had."

"Fanfani is an erupting volcano, albeit intermittently; Moro, on the other hand, is seething inside."

"Illegal funding has always existed. Malagodi took money from Confindustria; Moro stood up to defend Gui. It’s just that they had... the guts. We let ourselves be torn apart, our parliamentary immunity stripped away."

"I care for Moro and have given him plenty of good advice. But he doesn’t follow it and has got it into his head that I am his rival. Once Moro gets an idea into his head, there is no way to change it."

"(About the politicians who will go down in the history of the Christian Democrats) Dossetti, De Gasperi, but I could also add Piccioni, La Pira, and Moro. I have never seen people of that calibre, of that character, of that stature, in the party again."

"Moro is the man who emerges from his letters, those letters he wrote whilst a prisoner of the Red Brigades, which are the most painful and humiliating words ever to have come from a prison. The "distinguished statesman" who, when push comes to shove, renounces all the principles of the rule of law, seems to regard the State and its institutions as his own private property, and invites his party colleagues and the Republic’s leading representatives to do the same. The man who asks for mercy for himself but, in ninety letters, has not a single word for the men of his security police, killed for him; indeed, the only mention he makes of them is coldly bureaucratic, describing them as "administratively unfit". The politician who confirms the tradition of the Italian ruling class, ready to demand everything—even life itself—from the humble, yet never willing, on the rare occasions it happens, to pay the price personally (think of Mussolini fleeing under a German overcoat, or the way the king and Badoglio abandoned Rome). To say these things about a man who died as Moro did may seem—indeed, is—cruel. But it is the truth. And since I wrote these things whilst Moro was still alive ("Distinguished statesman or poor man?". Il Lavoro, 4 April 1978),"

"I have no qualms about repeating them now that he is dead and further details are emerging to complete the picture."

"I'm at peace with that man. It was a war, with allies and adversaries. A conflict like the one we saw in those years caused so much suffering."

"When it comes to Moro, we must look beyond emotions, and even beyond the as yet unresolved questions regarding the circumstances of his captivity, his sacrifice and the motives of his killers, and seek to continue exploring the relevance of his political legacy today."

"Luigi Gui, from an article published in Le Prospettive del Mondo; quoted in La dc ricorda Moro (ucciso 5 anni fa), La Stampa, 9 May 1983."

"Moro was clearly the most prominent figure. He was as taciturn as he was intelligent; he possessed a formidable intellectual reputation. The only concrete evidence I had of his intellect was the Byzantine complexity of his syntax. [...] Moro clearly had no interest in international affairs. He was the party’s strategist par excellence, destined to devise new avenues in domestic politics with extraordinary subtlety; he took on the Foreign Affairs portfolio not out of any deep-seated vocation, but purely and simply as a springboard to power."

"Aldo Moro. Dr Divago."

"Although Moro’s papers, and countless photographs and testimonies, speak of great popular affection for him, Moro was certainly one of the most controversial leaders this country has ever had: particularly among politicians and intellectuals, he found fierce detractors and passionate supporters; he was – like few others – both loved and downright hated."

"Many other Catholic leaders, even with a secular sensibility, would have sought a synthesis between the religious and political dimensions: this synthesis is absent in Moro; and not by mistake, or lack of awareness, but because of the fundamentally secular roots of his politics. Perhaps this is where, even today, his modernity lies."

"And the painful image comes to mind of a friend so dear to us, of an honest man, of a politician of great intellect and vast culture: Aldo Moro. What a void he has left in his party and in this assembly! Had he not been cruelly murdered, he, not I, would be speaking to you today from this seat."

"A man of great intelligence, but extremely shy. He hated cameras and refused to have make-up applied in the studio. He wore a waistcoat, could not bear anyone touching him and at the same time was afraid to show this idiosyncrasy."

"He is the embodiment of southern pessimism. Centuries of the sirocco, it was said, are in his gaze."

"May had descended upon Rome with all the fury of its fading spring. But it was a strange May. A sad one. In a city suspended in a soundproofed anguish, as if under a shower of polystyrene. In a city trapped beneath one of those glass cases where old people keep an image of the Virgin Mary. Or of a Christ with a bleeding heart and the face of Aldo Moro. Scialoja dreamt of Aldo Moro. Millions of Italians dreamt of Aldo Moro. His colleagues dreamt of Aldo Moro. They dreamt of meeting the same fate as the five martyrs of Via Fani."

"[In 2016] There were nine of them on Via Fani, as Morucci says, including four gunmen; they faced a security police that I don’t believe was incapable of defending Moro. So one wonders how they managed it? My comrades told me, "We did it ourselves, by training in the courtyard at home.""

"[Speech delivered on 16 March 1978, on the occasion of the general strike following the ambush] But on this day of mourning, a dramatic moment in the life of the nation, on this day the turmoil of emotions must not overwhelm us; we must oppose inhuman violence with reason, with the resolute determination not to bow to the blackmail of the murderers, the enemies of democracy and the freedom of our country. There is talk of civil war. We have known such things, but in this case we are not facing a struggle between one, albeit small, section of the people against another. That is not the case. We are facing a handful of professional terrorists who are waging a relentless campaign against our institutions and our freedoms; we are facing a small group of murderers who are attacking the institutions of Italian democracy; it is true, however, it is true and we must take advantage of this circumstance to reflect on this reality: that surrounding this tiny, ferocious gang of criminals there is a certain stratum of acquiescent, passive people, people who, if nothing else, morally disengage or even show solidarity with the criminals, with the terrorists, or who simply stand by and watch. This is not the time to stand by and watch, friends of Rome. We cannot, at this moment, in this trial, stand by passively in the face of the torment being inflicted upon our country’s institutions, democracy, freedom, and the fundamental values of civil coexistence that we have won through our struggle."

"[In 1990, "was the Via Fani operation launched that day partly to influence the parliamentary vote, or not?"] No, the coincidence of the government's formation was entirely accidental. It was no coincidence that that operation was part of a proposal that was a complete alternative to those who believed that development in Italy was linked to a political change, called "National Solidarity". That, yes, that was no coincidence because the project was being launched at that very moment, in those weeks, in those months. Certainly a project that would have brought great trouble to our country."

"[In 2000] My view remains the same as that which I expressed in my Giornale the day after the incident. "If the State, bowing to blackmail, deals with the violence that has already left the five bodies of the security police on the pavement, thereby recognising the crime as its legitimate interlocutor, it no longer has any reason, as a State, to exist". This was the position we took from day one and which, fortunately, found two resolute supporters in Parliament (Berlinguer’s PCI and La Malfa's PRI) and one reluctant supporter amidst tears and sobs (the DC of the Moro-supporting Zaccagnini). This was the "plot" that led to the State’s hesitant ‘no’, to Moro’s subsequent death, but shortly afterwards also to the surrender of the Red Brigades. As for the gossip and suspicions that have been spun around it, and which still resurface from time to time, not a shred of evidence has ever been produced, and they are merely the fruit of the whingeing infantilism of this spineless people, incapable even of conceiving that a State might react, as a State, to those who flout its laws."

"[In 2023, "on 16 March 1978, you passed through Via Fani shortly before the ambush on Aldo Moro and his security policec?"] I had to catch the bus to university; my moped was broken. I stopped at the newsagent’s to pick up the Messaggero. I was reading the front-page news about Juventus managing to beat Ajax thanks to Zoff, when the gunfire started. I ran to the opposite side of the street and, with a neighbour, we hid in a side alley. It didn’t last long. When I went back, there were victims on the ground, bullet casings, blood. It looked like a film. But I realised the gravity of the situation at home: there was nothing else on the telly."

"Before I even used to have a psychologist on board because a lot of people would come here and I wasn’t sure if they were doing certain treatments for themselves or someone else. And you know, that is the wrong reason to do something. But now I don’t really need a psychologist on-site anymore because the people that come in here are just like ‘I want to be more self confident and this thing bothers me, if I get it fixed I’ll feel better."

"Those your wyne after thys sorte, it must be fyne, fayre & clere to the eye, it muste be fragraunte and redolent hauynge a good odour and flauour in the nose, it muste spryncle in the cup whan it is drawne or put out of the pot in to the cup, it must be colde & pleasaunt in the mouth, and it must be stronge and subtyll of substaunce. And than moderatly dronken it doth acuate and doth quycken a mans wyttes, it doth cōfort the hert, it doth scowre ye lyuer, specyally if it be whyte wine it doth reioyce al the powers of man, and dothe nuryshe them, it dothe ingendre good bloude, it doth comforte and doth nurysshe the brayne and all the body, and it resolueth fleume, it ingendreth heate, and it is good agaynst heuynes and pencyfulnes, it is full of agylyte, wherfore it is medsonable, specyally whyte wyne, for it doth mundyfye and clense woūdes & sores."

"Beefe is good meate for & Englyssh man so be it the beest be yonge, & that it be nat cowe flesshe. For olde befe & cowe flesshe dothe ingēdre melancoly and leprouse bumours: yf it be moderatly poudered that the groose bloude by salte may be exaustyd, it doth make an Englysshe man strōge."

"Fysshe may be sode, rosted, bruled & baken euery one after theyr kynde, & vse a fasshyon of the countre, as the coke and the phisicion wyll agre & deuyse. For a good coke is halfe a phisicion. For the chefe phisicke (the councell of a phisecion except) dothe come from the kytchyn, wherfore the phisicion and the coke for sicke men must consult togyther for the preparacion of meate for sicke men."

"England, our native country, one of the most renowned monarchies in the world, against which the Pope beareth a special eye of envy and malice: envy for the wealth and peace that we enjoy through the goodness of Almighty God...[and] malice for the religion of the Gospel which we profess, whereby the dignity of his triple crown is almost shaken in pieces...Their [our enemies'] scope is by invasion and rebellion to subdue and conquer all, with purpose, as it seemeth, to root out from them [Britain and Ireland] the English nation for ever. And if it fall not out according to their desires — as, with God's help, it never shall — yet at the least they will do their best to trouble the Queen and her State, to burn, to spoil, to kill, to rob...By sea is one of the things we ought chiefly to regard, being rightly termed the wall of England; for which her Majesty, with her provident care, is so furnished with great and good shipping...as in no age the like, and such and so many as no Prince in Christendom may compare with."

"Sunt Angli graves ut Germani, magnifici domi forisque magna assectantium famulorum agnimi secum trahunt, quibus in sinistro brachio scuta ex argento facta appendunt, et non immerito vexantur illos caudas a tergo habere. In saltationibus et arte musica excellunt. Sunt enim agiles et alacres, licet crassiores corporibus quam Galli. Mediam capitis partem capillos detondent, utroque latere illaeso. Sunt boni nautae et insignes pyratae, astuti, fallaces, et furaces. Londini singulis annis ultra, sicuti vulgo fertur, suspenduntur. Decapitatio minoris apud ipsos est infamiae quam strangulatio. Ire prope murum honoratior est locus. Frequens falconum et accipitrum apud nobiles in venationibus usus. In edendo civiliores Gallis, parcius utuntur pane, carnibus vero largius, quas optime assant. In potum copiose immittunt saccarum. Tegumenta lectorum sunt tapetia, etiam apud rusticos. Laborant frequenter lepra, alba vulgo dicta, quam primis Normannorum temporibus in Angliam irrepsisse fama est. In aedibus duas plaerunque contignationes habent, excepto Londino, ubi tres, raro quatuor, reperiuntur. Aedificant ex ligno vel, qui lautioris sunt fortunae, ex coctis lateribus. Tecta habent depressioria, quae ditiores plumbo tegunt."

"Sunt potentes in praeliis, undiquaque debellant adversarios, nullumque penitus patiuntur iugum servitutis. Delectantur quoque valde sonitibus, qui ipsis aures implent, uti explosionibus tormentorum, tympanis et campanarum boatu, ita ut Londini multi qui se inebriaverint turrem unam vel alteram exercitii causa ascendant et per horas aliquot campandis signum dent. Si quem exterum egregia forma et statura ornatum vident dolore dicunt quod non sit homo Anglicus, vulgo 'Englishmen'."

"I pray to God the Scottish King do deceive me, but I am afeared he will not. For my own part, I have made of the French King, the Scottish King, and the King of Spain, a Trinity that I mean never to trust to be saved by; and I would others were, in that, of my opinion.Sir, there was never, since England was England, such a stratagem and mask made to deceive England withal as this is of the treaty of peace."

"If you’re really far down, there’s only one way to go, and that’s up."

"To children with all races, do embrace learning and love it for it will embrace and love you back and shall able you to change your world."