Indro Montanelli quotes

Indro Montanelli was an influential Italian journalist, historian, and writer. Renowned for his independent views and sharp wit, he became one of the most respected voices in twentieth-century Italian journalism. He left a lasting legacy through his books and his commitment to journalistic integrity. Here are 32 of his quotes:

[...] the love of power excludes all others. (Indro Montanelli)
[Addressed to Berlusconi who wanted to impose himself on the editorial style of "Il Giornale"] In the art of entrepreneurship, you are certainly a genius, and I an asshole. But in the art of argument the genius is me, and you the asshole. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Politicians do nothing but ask of us, during every expiration of a legal statute, "a gesture of trust." But here trust is not enough; what's needed is an act of faith. View quote
Indro Montanelli
A real writer [...] doesn't look up to any other writer but himself. View quote
Indro Montanelli
It isn't necessary to be socialists in order to love Pertini. Whatever he says or does, smells of cleanliness, of loyalty and of sincerity. View quote
Indro Montanelli
I have never dreamt of contesting the Church her right to remain faithful to herself, meaning to the commandments that come from Doctrine... but that she expects to impose these commandments upon me who do not have the good fortune of being a believer, trying to pour them into civil law in a way that they become obligatory even to us non-believers, is it right? To me it doesn't seem so. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Democracy is always, by nature and constitution, the triumph of mediocrity. View quote
Indro Montanelli
The only advice that I'm in the mood to give - and that I give regularly - to young people is this: fight for what you believe in. You will lose, just like I have lost, all the battles. But only one you may win. The one that you engage every morning, in front of the mirror. View quote
Indro Montanelli
The nice thing about political pundits is that, when they answer a question, one no longer understands what they were asked. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Which ever one of you will want to become a journalist, let him remember to choose his own master: the reader. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Pertini has interpreted as their best the worst about Italians. (Indro Montanelli)
Cynics are all moralists, and merciless too. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Depression is a democratic sickness: it afflicts everyone. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Italian husbands, in order to buy their wives a fur coat, spend more than all their European collegues. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Also we Italians have something to Elvis Presley: to offer one of the rare occasions when we prefer to be Italian rather than American. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Fascism rewarded jackasses in uniform. Democracy gives privileges to those in sports' gear. In Italy, political regimes come to pass. Jackasses remain. Triumphant. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Men do not know how to appreciate or measure luck except that of others. Their own never. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Certainly, for a newspaper director, to have within arm's reach a Travaglio, about whom every starring actor, supporting cast and extra of Italian political life he is ready upon cold request to provide an inquiry brief refined in the most minute details is a nice comfort. But also a bit unsettling. The day I asked him if in that archive, into which no one is allowed to stick their nose, there were a brief with my name on it, Marco changed the subject. View quote
Indro Montanelli
I know many crooks and they never preach, but I don't know anyone who preaches that isn't a crook also. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Let not the usual abstract arguments be brought to me, like the sacredness of life: no one contests the right of everyone to arrange their own life, I don't see why their own death has to be contested. View quote
Indro Montanelli
The more I deepen the topic of regions (I'm in Milan for this reason), the more I am dismayed by having to write about it. It doesn't take much to understand that what these Lombard regionalists are pursuing, knowingly or unknowingly, is a Cisalpine secessionist plan. And, once they've had the instrument, they'll manage to realize it. There's a reason why Bassetti already no longer speaks of a "Lombardy region", but of a "Padania region", of which the rest of Italy would be but an appendix. If they'll succeed (and they will succeed), farewell Risorgimento! It wasn't but a fiction, agreed, and in practice it has failed. But with what will we replace it? (Indro Montanelli)
I fly to Luxembourg on Berlusconi's usual twin engine, who accompanies us, glad to exhibit himself and exhibit his status in an international ceremony. The gold medal (but is it really gold?) is given to me by Gaston Thorn, head of the Luxembourg government. Berlusconi fills his notebook with addresses: of all the V.I.P.'s that he has met. He's a true climber that takes advantage of everything and throws nothing away. View quote
Indro Montanelli
This isn't the Right, this is the billy-club. Italians don't know how to go Right without ending up in the billy-club. View quote
Indro Montanelli
Parties had eventually put the wrong man in the wrong place. De Mita was not without merits. However, he completely lacked any relating to government. This was obvious while he served as Minister, and was not accomplishing more than a little: and that little bit, usually, would have been better not having been accomplished. View quote
Indro Montanelli
This isn't a romanticized biography. It's a biography period. If here and there it resembles a romantic novel, the credit is only Garibaldi's, not his potrayers. View quote
Indro Montanelli