[On joining the Radical Party] I joined not so much out of organic membership, but in response to a plea from the Radical Party, which was struggling to survive. I did it out of gratitude. I didn't vote for them; I was a socialist. I did it so that a party that had brought divorce and abortion to Italians wouldn't die.

Even the Italian master in politicks, the subtle and renouned Machiavel acknowledges, that no republic ever yet stood on a stable foundation without satisfying the common people.