Quotes from Adriana Trigiani

He decided to cling to those things that were wonderful about her, and to ignore the ravages of time and insecurity, instability, and anxiety.

Love yourself. That's the greatest adventure. When you love yourself, you want to find your purpose, something only you can do in the way only you can do it. Make things. Create. And if a man comes along—and believe me, he will—the relationship is already off to a good start because both of you love the same person. You. Lucky him.

And when the moon is full and there's a lot of light, it overpowers the sparkle of the stars, so you think they're gone. But they're there. In science, the only concept you can prove is that things always change. But the truth is, they also stay the same.

tradition, properly cared for, nurtured, honored, and respected, continues to feed the soul of a family.

When Matelda was young, she chased time to get what she wanted. Now she chased time to hold on to it.

When you see an old lady who's on the wrong side of a good mood, now you know why. She has a past that you can't understand because you didn't live it. As she ages, her feet hurt, her back aches, her knees click, she cooks, she cleans, she worries, she waits, and then she gets sick and dies. Be kind, Anina. Someday you'll be the old lady.

A woman choses a man she thinks she deserves then sets out to change him to suit herself

A cassock does not make a man a priest, any more than a fine dress makes a woman truly beautiful—or good or generous or intelligent. Don't confuse the way someone looks with the way they are. Grace is a rare thing.

In the last moments of his life Ciro realized that a truly good man is a rarity, a speck of gold in a mountain of slag.

All around him during the war, Ciro saw men lie, engage in acts of cowardice, create feeble attachments to women, only to leave them—men acting in pursuit of their own comforts, men behaving without grace. And

We need the work. We'll do a

The leaders who start out as jokes—people make fun of them, they're caricatures, cartoons in newspapers, and people decide they are harmless. Those men are the most dangerous. The day comes when they use their power against their own people." Alda

You cannot buy time when it has been stolen from you.

want you to realize that this whole thing is just a grand adventure. A fine show. The trick is to play in it and look at it at the same time. . . . The more kinds of people you see, the more things you do, and the more things that happen to you, the richer you are. Even if they're not pleasant things. That's living . . .

has stayed with me. Ferber said, 'Beware the clowns.' The leaders who start out as jokes—people make fun of them, they're caricatures, cartoons in newspapers, and people decide they are harmless. Those men are the most dangerous. The day comes when they use their power against their own people." Alda could sense the changes in

My day begins at dawn as I take my cup of strong black espresso outside to watch the sunrise. I learned this ritual from my mother, who worked in a bread shop. Bakers are the great philosophers of the world, mostly because they have to get up early. When the world is quiet, great art is created - or, at the very least, conceptualized. Now is the moment to sketch, make notes, and dream.

still miss my mother. Isn't it funny? You forget plenty, but never your mother.

We'll go to America, make the money, and come back as soon as we can. It's the only way. Someday we'll have the life we dreamed of." Giacomina

Who waits around for a compliment? Ask for it. Then take it. And when you do, you realize you knew the truth all along and you didn't need anybody else's opinion in the first place. No one has to tell you that you did a good job.

Maybe you shouldn't blame anyone, but accept that this is your sister's story, and the ending belongs to her.

Italy, despite its earthiness and charm, can never be New Jersey. Here we value evolution and change; Italy, while it warms the heart, is a monument to the past. In America we change our rooms as often as our fashions. In Italy you're likely to find throw pillows older than the Shroud of Turin. It's just a different way to live.

Look out for yourself. A man who cares about your feelings, roots for your limitless future, and plans to guard your dreams as his own is a person that will make a good life partner.

Sometimes we get our hearts broken, only to have the right person come along to mend them

Old age was a box of surprises and not the good kind.