All Quotes

"(On brain death) The irreversibility of the loss of brain functions, ascertained by a ‘flat encephalogram’, does not prove the death of the individual. The total loss of the unity of the organism, understood as the ability to integrate and coordinate all its functions, does not in fact depend on the brain, nor even on the heart. The ascertainment of the cessation of breathing and heartbeat does not mean that the heart or lungs are the source of life. If legal and medical tradition, not only in the West, has always considered that death should be ascertained through the cessation of cardiovascular activity, it is because experience shows that the cessation of such activity is followed, after a few hours, by rigor mortis and then the beginning of the disintegration of the body. This does not happen in any way after the cessation of brain activity. Today, science allows women with flat encephalograms to carry their pregnancies to term and give birth to healthy babies. An individual in a state of “irreversible coma” can be kept alive with the support of artificial means; a corpse can never be revived, even if connected to sophisticated equipment."

"The truth is that the definition of brain death was proposed by Harvard Medical School in the summer of 1968, a few months after the first heart transplant performed by Christian Barnard (December 1967), to ethically justify heart transplants, which required that the heart of the donor still be beating, meaning that, according to traditional medical standards, he was still alive. In this case, the removal of the heart was equivalent to murder, albeit carried out “for a good cause”. Science posed a dramatic moral question: is it permissible to kill a sick person, even if they are terminally ill or irreversibly injured, in order to save another human life of superior “quality”?"

"The real problem is that the price to pay for saving these lives is the tragic one of suppressing others. The utilitarian principle that one can do evil to achieve good is being replaced by the Western and Christian maxim that it is not permissible to do evil, even to achieve a greater good. Whereas in the past the traditional “signs” of death were used to ascertain that a living person was not considered dead, today the new Harvard criterion treats the living as corpses in order to be able to transplant them."

"His sweet life Padre Pio began by flying to heaven [...], because he was never blessed on earth."

"(About Padre Pio) His profile of holiness is everything except what one usually imagines: blue, haloed, joyful. Quite the opposite."

"Padre Pio always lived between heaven and earth. Literally."

"Padre Pio never theorised anything. The epochal disputes of the conciliar Church did not even touch him."

"My original aims haven't changed and will not change. The main aim of this business is to supply locally and internationally if resources will be available one day. Second, it is to be one of the leading organic farmers in the country and offer training to other farmers."

"As a child born and raised in a village, my parents taught me from early years that growing your own food is important, because you will never go to bed hungry. They also used to tell me that land is very important in one’s life, because you can build your home on it and eat from it."

"But 85 per cent of women are still wearing the wrong size - honest to God. They'll come in to Rigby & Peller and they'll be falling out of their bra, the cups are sitting on top of their breasts like nipple warmers."

"When you're passionate about an issue, you do extreme things. It was around 1970, and if Jews wanted to leave Russia, they were being arrested. I didn't want my children to grow up and ask if I knew what was happening but chose to do nothing. So while they were at school, I'd go and do all these mad things."

"It's definitely the secret to a successful relationship. Your children are very important and you do everything for them, but your husband is your priority because when they've flown the nest, it's you and him."

"People say they would kill to know what I know – and that is exactly what they would have to do."

"But it was all brilliant, we got on very well and I’ve had the Royal Warrant since 1982, so I must be doing something right"

"The [Rigby & Peller] name is known all over the world, which is so satisfying because it’s what I’ve worked for"

"Harold decided he was not interested. ‘We don’t need Rigby & Peller. I don’t want Rigby & Peller. We can’t afford Rigby & Peller."

""So we developed our own method to help." This involved ditching the measuring tape and simply assessing each customer's needs by sight."

"A tape measure doesn't say, for instance, 'she's big here with a narrow back.' It just gives you numbers. But we can look at what figure type you are and find the solution immediately."

"For me, acting is more like a calling. I feel unfulfilled each time I try to do something else, so I have made up my mind that acting is a commitment I must fulfill."

"When it comes to my female fans, I tread carefully. I make sure that I do not allow the handshakes to go beyond the elbow. If you study the industry properly, it is the opposite sex that appreciates a person’s work the most. I have been coping fine with them"

"[...] we know perfectly well that war exists solely and exclusively for economic interests, which are always the same, and that it is always a small number of people who determine the choices of entire populations!"

"I can't manage to be completely vegetarian. I can give up meat for months, but then I inevitably fall back into old habits. Nevertheless, I have reduced my consumption considerably, which is good from a physical, mental and political point of view. Physically, because eating less meat makes you feel better; mentally, because eating dead animals is not good for the soul; and politically, because the social and economic consequences of meat abuse are unimaginable. [...] Eating less meat is a political choice that each of us must make. It is difficult, at least for me it is, and that is precisely why legislators (the M5S environment and agriculture committees are addressing the issue with various bills) must urgently address the issue."

"Italy should treat terrorism like cancer. Cancer is fought by eliminating its causes, not by dealing exclusively with its effects."

"We should stop considering terrorists as inhuman beings with whom it is not even worth engaging in discussion. This is a complex but decisive point. In the era of drones and total arms imbalance, terrorism is, unfortunately, the only violent weapon left to those who rebel. [...] If my village is bombed by a remote-controlled aircraft, I have only one way to defend myself apart from non-violent techniques, which are the best: to load myself with explosives and blow myself up in a underground station. I am neither justifying nor approving this, far from it. I am trying to understand. Due to their nature as subjects who respond to violent actions against them, terrorists cannot be defeated by sending more drones, but by elevating them to the status of interlocutors. This is a difficult but necessary task, otherwise the phenomenon will only grow."

"Nigeria, go to Wikipedia: 60% of the territory is in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists from Boko Haram, the rest is Ebola."

"It is important for us to identify a common enemy today, and that enemy is centralised power: a sort of centralised, Northern European Nazism that is destroying us. They are creating – with the Jobs Act and the TTIP, among other things – a sort of Walmart generation, or 300 euro generation, which will produce more and more slaves. They essentially want to colonise Southern Europe."

"(After the announcement of Maurizio Lupi's resignation from his position as Minister of Infrastructure and Transports) Do you know what corruption means? It means breaking into many pieces. Corruption has broken this country into many pieces, crumbling it and guaranteeing abundant feeding troughs for a few and crumbs for everyone else. Corruption has produced cancer in the “land of fires” and the abandonment of Italy by its best young people; it has caused sleepless nights for fathers who do not know how to pay for their children's studies, panic attacks for recent graduates who do not know how to find work. Corruption has produced the tragedy of entrepreneurs who would rather hang themselves than tell anyone they are going bankrupt, and the tears of sick people forced to wait months to find a bed in a hospital. Corruption has turned Italy into a jungle where criminals obtain contracts, million-pound bank accounts, dream homes and luxury boats moored on the coasts of Liguria, Sardinia or in some port in the Gargano. Liguria, Sardinia and the Gargano, where thousands of Italians wait for crumbs from a corrupt state that cannot even protect them from the rain."

"If the poor or migrants were banks, you would have already saved them."

"(Addressed to the MPs of the Democratic Party) I would like to remind you that the Five Star Movement does not receive a single euro of public funding for political parties. Zero! What you have screwed up, and you are not even able to pay for the party headquarters in Rome. And tell that freeloader Orfini to cough up the money. Secondly, we want to know how much money the criminal Buzzi gave to the Democratic Party through Mafia Capitale and whether he was present at your fundraising dinners. Until you answer, shut up."

"(Addressed to Minister Gentiloni, on possible military intervention in Libya) A sovereign country, Minister Gentiloni, tells the truth even if it is uncomfortable, it is not something you can hide under the carpet, sweeping it under the rug and trying, as always, to tell convenient lies, as if it were methadone that you give to a public opinion that is in fact dormant, anaesthetised, accustomed to everything."

"We must not go to war in Libya because if we go to war in Libya, the only result we will achieve is to reunite terrorist factions, tribes and counter-tribes, all against Italy, which has already betrayed them once and a second betrayal would never be forgiven. So, if you want another Vietnam, go to Libya, the responsibility will be yours alone, otherwise we should not go to war in Libya, especially if there is no government of national unity."

"In this Parliament, even as subjects of the United States of America, the concept of “preventive war” has been theorised and endorsed, which is an international disgrace that has caused damage in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and everywhere else. Today, you are moving from the concept of preventive war to war “without the knowledge of the Italian people”, all without their knowledge, and we do not trust the words of the Prime Minister, who has always contradicted himself. We cannot trust your words either, but we do trust the Italian people, who are more alert than you and who know that this war would be yet another infamous war and could lead to a new Vietnam. The Italian people do not want this war."

"(About Isis) We know perfectly well who finances them, how they are financed, which war industries help them, who gives them money, but we cannot intervene because our hands are tied, because we were put there by the same powerful forces that control these international trafficking operations. It is called a conflict of interest; you are regularly in conflict of interest and never act in the interests of the Italian people. [...] If the first casualty of war is truth, the barrage of lies that are told daily about the Libyan issue show us that we are at war, and the Five Star Movement will oppose this war in every way possible."

"What is the difference today between the PD and a bank? Banks manage our money in a murky way, just like the parties that have pocketed billions in public funding by changing the name to “electoral reimbursements”. Banks then sell toxic products, taking the piss out of citizens by saying ‘don't worry, this bond is safe’, and then many people have lost all their savings. And isn't the PD doing the same thing? Isn't it selling toxic products and passing them off as safe? Isn't the Jobs Act a toxic product? Aren't the “Good School” and Bail-In toxic products? Isn't the constitutional reform made by Renzi-Boschi-Verdini a toxic product? Isn't Renzi taking us for a ride when he says, “We will abolish Equitalia”? The M5S presented the law to abolish Equitalia in Parliament, and the PD rejected it."

"(Addressed to the Renzi Government) With this agenda, which you consider populism and we consider practicality, we demand that Members of Parliament earn €5,000 gross, or approximately €3,100 net per month, which is more than enough to live a dignified life. [...] This is a different idea that we have of the country compared to you. Don't complain, though, if you no longer have consensus, don't complain if Renzi has to be defended by his security detail every day, he who said, “the people defend me”, but perhaps meant “the agent”. Don't complain anymore if they throw manure at you – and we condemn this, for God's sake – if they don't let you enter a square without bodyguards. Don't complain! We walk with our heads held high and carry on with this battle. We ask you to be part of this project, to allocate this money to small and medium-sized enterprises, because doing your duty improves the quality of life. If you want to do it well, otherwise you take responsibility, but know that when we are in those seats, as the governing force, the first thing we will do in a single day will be this cut, and seeing you as the minority that day will be a pleasure."

"Travelling is an investment in happiness."

"I want to vote... I want to vote because I can't stand them anymore... I can't stand them anymore! [...] It's thanks to the Five Star Movement that there isn't... we have channelled participation into beautiful, beautiful democratic paths! [...] I want citizens to vote!"

"The problem, and I don't know if Italians are aware of this, is that today the Bank of Italy, which is supposed to supervise private banks and prevent them from failing, is no longer a public bank, because it is controlled by the very private banks it is supposed to supervise."

"You yourselves have now become victims of a certain system because you no longer have the slightest freedom to oppose financial capitalism. Why? Because the “bankocracy” has effectively placed its people within the institutions, which is why, in the last four years alone, dozens of decrees have been passed in favour of private banks and no decrees in favour of citizens who are suffering."

"The day the Five Star Movement (but that will never happen) were to form an alliance with the parties responsible for the destruction of Italy, I would leave the Five Star Movement."

"I would like Boschi to remain in government, firmly entrenched in her position, so that the PD loses votes."

"Berlusconi is angry with the Five Star Movement because our anti-corruption law is emptying his party."

"An excellent teacher and a brilliant botanist with a wide range of interest, encouraged students to explore and record the , and awarded a gold medal annually for the best (collection of pressed plants)."

"The M5S is a phase of my life that is now over, but if they were to come back into favour, it would depend on the Movement's political agenda. Clearly, the battles that were a priority for me were not a priority for others. I consider myself a political activist. Leaving the M5S has given me a freedom that I did not have before. I believe it is my duty and right to exercise that freedom and to take political positions that are often and willingly contrary. [...] I realised that almost no one on television has the courage to take a clear stance in favour of the Palestinian people because there is a conformism that does not even exist in the United States. [...] Israel's policy towards the Palestinians is a policy of apartheid. To date, there are no two states, Letta says, but because he does not know what to say, he does not have the courage to take a stand. Didn't Foreign Minister Di Maio do the same? I told him publicly that I disagree with the Movement's foreign policy. If I were part of the Italian institutions today, I would immediately recognise the State of Palestine. There was more freedom among politicians in the first Republic than there is now."

"Responding to ‘Do you intend to found your own party?’ I haven't thought about it yet. To those who tell me to return to the M5S, I reply that I would only sit down at the table if they left the Draghi government.[...] If it does not return to political battles, it risks becoming nothing more than a party of power."

"Embrace every opportunity that comes your way"

"Feel the fear and do it anyway"

"Go with your passion"

"Ask for help – you don’t know until you ask"

"Find a mentor or coach – sometimes just to help you clarify your own thoughts by talking an idea thorough"