The Name of the Rose

there is little difference between the ardor of the seraphim and the ardor of Lucifer, because they are always born from an extreme igniting of the will.”

Laughter foments doubt.” “But sometimes it is right to doubt.” “I cannot see any reason. When you are in doubt, you must turn to an authority, to the words of a father or of a doctor; then all reason for doubt ceases.

He was, in other words, the library’s memory and the soul of the scriptorium.

A city in Italy is something different from one in my land. . . . It is not only a place to live, it is also a place to decide,

the righteous man is burned in the place of his succubus. Inquisitors often, to demonstrate their zeal, wrest a confession from the accused at all costs, thinking that the only good inquisitor is one who concludes the trial by finding a scapegoat. . . .”

“The library is testimony to truth and to error,” a voice then said behind us. It was Jorge. Once again I was amazed (but I was to be amazed often in the days that followed) by the old man’s way of suddenly, unexpectedly appearing, as if we did not see him and he did see us. I wondered also why on earth a blind man was in the scriptorium, but I rea

If you see something from a distance, and you do not understand what it is, you will be content with defining it as a body of some dimension.

he had invented for himself a language which used the sinews of the languages to which he had been exposed—and

I did not grasp his meaning. “From what side?” I asked. “Ah, true,” William acknowledged the problem. “It is a matter of knowing whether there are sides and whether there is a whole.