A few weeks after Italy reelected its 87-year old president for a second term, we get news that its former 7-term Prime Minister, 94 year old, Giulio Andreotti, has passed away.
From AP [5]:
Italian state television says Giulio Andreotti, Italy's former seven-time premier, has died at age 94.
Andreotti was hospitalized last year with heart problems stemming from a respiratory infection.
At his prime, Andreotti was one of Italy's most powerful men: He helped draft the country's constitution after World War II, sat in parliament for 60 years and served as premier seven times. He remained a senator-for-life.
The Christian Democrat was accused of exchanging a "kiss of honor" with the Mafia's longtime No. 1 boss and indicted in what was called "the trial of the century" in Palermo in the mid-1990s. He denied any wrongdoing and was eventually cleared by Italy's highest court.
The life senator, the highest political honor in Italy, had been around longer even that Bunga, and as a result he accumulated a roster of witty quotes during his long career. A sampling below.
- In response to opposition politician Giancarlo Pajetta, who had claimed that "power wears you out" (il potere logora), Andreotti said "Power wears out those who don't have it"
- "Power is a disease one has no desire to be cured of."
- "Gladio was necessary during the days of the Cold War but, in view of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, Italy would suggest to NATO that the organization was no longer necessary."
- "You sin in thinking ill of people; but you often guess right" (A pensar male si fa peccato, ma spesso ci si azzecca).
- "Never over-dramatize things, everything can be fixed; keep a certain detachment from everything; the important things in life are very few".
- "I recognize my limits, but when I look around I realise I am not exactly living in a world of giants."
- "Aside from the Punic Wars, which I was too young for, I have been blamed for everything."
- "We learn from the Gospel that when they asked Jesus what the truth was, he did not reply."
- "You always find the culprit in crime novels, but not always in real life."
- "I don't believe in chance, I believe in God's will."
- "My whole life is a dance." (In response to a question whether he had ever danced in his life.)
- "I don't believe that we can divide mankind into the wicked and the angels. We're all average sinners."
And finally:
- I should be making plans more for the next world than for this one.
None, however, quite as colorful as those recorded by his successor Berlusconi.