I've got not much to say. I don't think I've learned a lot of things over the years: I've learned that there are thousands of thoughtless things you can do. And among these things one is more thoughtless than the others. And that's the one you usually do. I've learned that black clashes with blue. I've learned that some odours settle in your memory, and when you smell them again you feel like all those years have never gone by. I've leaned that Saturday is better than Sunday. I've understood that everyone has something to tell, but I've also understood that hating some people helps you living better. I've understood that some mornings you'd give an arm away to sleep five minutes more. I've ascertained that some cities can even make you forget your name. I've learned that some people are so aesthetically amazing that they even shed light. They seem, you know… phosphorescent! I've understood that you don't have to worry if you're 40, you don't know what to do in your life and you still want to play. Maybe you're the only one who has understood something. I've learned that if you repeat a word several times, it suddenly loses its meaning. I've learned that sometimes you want so much to make love with a particular person that you would get down on your knees and pray. I've learned that a cigarette, especially if you're down, can save your life. I've found out that some persons are such a pain in the ass, that they represent a true ornament on the testicles. I've learned that there's nothing more intoxicating than digging over a choice. And then going wrong. I've learned that your friends' comfort can be cruel. I've also learned that Frank Sinatra's voice is one of the reasons why it's worth living. And Heineken beer is the other reason. I've learned that salt must be added before water starts to boil. I've understood that some rules are made to be broken. I've realized that there's nothing funnier than telling an idiot he's right, while laughing inside. I've learned that through the years you learn to love your mistakes and your regrets as if they were your children. I've learned that nostalgia has the same flavour as hot chocolate. I've learned that Ingmar Bergman films are not just masterpieces: they are lessons in life. I've understood that nothing's better than getting up in the night while everybody else's sleeping and wandering about alone like a dog between the rubbish, searching for any satisfying sensation. I've learned that if someone asks you to do five things and then they add two other things, you inevitably forget the first three things. I've learned that some people use their head only to separate one ear from the other. I've learned that your favourite shirt attracts sauce like a magnet. I've learned that nothing's better than waking up in the morning without knowing what time it is, without recognising the room you're in. And, above all, without knowing how you got there. But above all I've learned that there are five or six important days in one's life. All the others just make volume. So in sixty years you won't remember the day when you took your degree or when you won an Oscar. You will remember the day when you and your friends, your true friends, smoked ten cigarettes each and you sang dead drunk, soaked to the skin and at the top of your voices in the street. Those are the moments when life's really at its best.
Federico Fellini
P.S. But, in the end, I've learned something.