4 Quotes by Umberto Eco about fire


  • Author Umberto Eco
  • Quote

    Fire is therefore too many things and – as well as being a psychological phenomenon – it becomes a symbol, and like all symbols it is ambiguous, polysemic and evokes different meanings according to the situation.

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  • Author Umberto Eco
  • Quote

    The sign is not concerned with that smoke and that fire, but with the possibility of a relationship between antecedent and consequent regulating of any occurrence of the smoke (and of the fire). The sign is type, not occurrence.

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  • Author Umberto Eco
  • Quote

    The lamp fell right on the pile of books that had been knocked from the table all in a heap, lying open. The oil spilled out, the fire immediately seized a fragile parchment, which blazed up like a bundle of dry twigs. Everything happened in a few moments, as for centuries those ancient pages had been yearning for arson and were rejoicing in the sudden satisfaction of an immemorial thirst for ecpyrosis.

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