Adriana Trigiani Quotes

A handwritten letter carries a lot of risk. It's a one-sided conversation that reveals the truth of the writer. Furthermore, the writer is not there to see the reaction of the person he writes to, so there's a great unknown to the process that requires a leap of faith. The writer has to choose the right words to express his sentences, and then, once he has sealed the envelope, he has to place those thoughts in the hands of someone else, trusting that the feelings will be delivered, and that the recipient will understand the writer's intent. How childish to think that could be easy. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The good things that happen to us were meant to happen, and the bad things that happen are lessons meant to teach us to be better. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Or maybe when she realized that he was never going to come and rescue her, she did what all strong women do. She found a way to save herself. ~ 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. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Roberto is a man, and they always said it and I never believed it, but it's true - a man is forgiven. The girl is always at fault. Forever married. People say, 'Roberto did the right thing.' But that's not what they say about me. I'll never be able to make this right. Never. But Roberto already has. He married me, so his debt is cleared. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I like it when my mother smiles. And I especially like it when I make her smile. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Relief is a wonderful emotion, highly underrated. In fact, I prefer it to elation or joy. Relief lets the air out of the Tire of Pain. ~ Adriana Trigiani

He just likes to have fun, Papa."
"That's not a quality that gets you far in life. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The wedding vows are a license to be a complete jerk, with full knowledge that the person you married has agreed, no matter how large a horse's ass you are, to stay by your side until death. A fool could tell you this is a bad deal. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I've made it my business to observe fathers and daughters. And I've seen some incredible, beautiful things. Like the little girl who's not very cute - her teeth are funny, and her hair doesn't grow right, and she's got on thick glasses - but her father holds her hand and walks with her like she's a tiny angel that no one can touch. He gives her the best gift a woman can get in this world: protection. And the little girl learns to trust the man in her life. And all the things that the world expects from women - to be beautiful, to soothe the troubled spirit, heal the sick, care for the dying, send the greeting card, bake the cake - allof those things become the way we pay the father back for protecting us ... ~ Adriana Trigiani

Ciro pointed through the ~ Adriana Trigiani

Each poor immigrant girl had a plan in place to survive. Some had brothers or fathers for protection, others, young husbands; but for all of them, the first line of defense was their scissors. ~ Adriana Trigiani

You'll always be my girl. You were from the first moment I saw you. You were sitting in church with your brothers. You were eight years old, and I was twelve, and I thought, I hope she waits for me. Lucia, I'll wait forever if I have to. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Better meant American. Better meant safe, clean, honest, and true. Dreams of every size and description lulled them into restful sleep at night and fueled them through their backbreaking days. At ~ Adriana Trigiani

What you love, I love. What worries you, worries me. What you dream of, I will try and make come true. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I look at my roommates who are so proud of me that it makes me proud. ~ Adriana Trigiani

If we're going to be friends, I want to be useful to you. You have to know what makes a person sad to figure out how to make them happy." "What ~ Adriana Trigiani

There is a beehive under every pot of honey on the island of Manhattan, ~ Adriana Trigiani

Had in store for him. Death was dodged, shirked, and outwitted daily. And still, death found them. Ciro understood why they needed ten thousand men a day shipped from America to do battle on the fields of France. They were determined to win by sheer numbers, with or without a solid plan for victory. Some men, without a plan in place, began to cling to their dreams. Others began to see death as a way out of the horror of what they were living through. But not Ciro; he endured the cold fever of fear because he knew he must go home again. ~ Adriana Trigiani

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 ~ Adriana Trigiani

Take nothing and no one for granted. Time used to be my friend, and now it's a skittish acquaintance at best.
Let life unfold, say what you mean. You can't always think about what you've lost, or what you don't have, or what you didn't get. Because when you do that, you're missing out on the now. You can't know if you'll be here tomorrow or a year from now. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The grandeur of the opera house thrilled Laura too. It took thousand of employees to keep such a vast place running. There were hundreds of artists involved behind the scenes - stagehands, electricians, set builders, property masters, costumers, dressers, wigmakers, and milliners.
There is a beehive under every pot of honey on the island of Manhattan, thought Enza. ~ Adriana Trigiani

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

Though this is my first trip to the United Kingdom, I am a proud Anglophile. I admire the practical temperament of the people. I love the artful details of daily life: a hand-stitched tea cozy in the shape of a Victorian mansion, the Wellie boots, the sheep's wool stockings, and the best tailors in the world. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Mama always said a good family has one heartbeat. No one knows you like the people you live with, and no one will take up your cause to the outside world quite like your blood relatives. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Orphans have many parents. ~ Adriana Trigiani

For a woman, love is the highest dream, and if a man promises to build a ladder tall enough to reach it, she believes him, hikes up her skirt, and follows him to the stars. Now ~ Adriana Trigiani

When people are filled to the brim with love, they are their most beautiful. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Women give men a place to go. A man is a useless piece of equipment whose purpose is lost if it were not for women ...
It's like this. A man might go out and get a job, but only for someplace to go during the day. And he's only working that job to give the money to his wife. And then, if he does really well ... to buy her good jewelry. And only because she asks for it. Diamonds aren't a man's idea. The first woman sent the first man into a hole in the ground, and when he emerged with the first diamond she looked at it and said, 'It's too small. Dig farther. Men are not ambitious outside of their desire to impress women. A woman, in return, gives a man's life shape. A context. A place to go. It's very simple. ~ Adriana Trigiani

This is my Italy, she thought. The power and beauty of the antiquities, the detailed frescos, the imposing statuaries carved of milk white granite, Don Martinelli's hammered gold chalice, the glorious tones of the music, the Italy of Puccini and Verdi, Caruso and Toscanini, not the Italy of the shattered spirits in Hoboken and the drunken, desperate Anna Buffa. This was the Italy that fed her soul, where hope was restored and broken hearts were mended in the hands of great artists. ~ Adriana Trigiani

It seems that the people with passion never get the thing they're after. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The weight of what had transpired on this day finally settled on Ciro. This wasn't really their home, and the nuns weren't truly family. The security they had provided was only on loan. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Writing comedy is the greatest spiritual gift you can give to anybody anytime. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I'm very organized - and the best thing - when you love your work, you don't mind putting in 15 hour days. It's joyful. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Our faces will become works of art that our grandchildren will treasure. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I will probably always cry myself to sleep, but knowing this, someday the tears won't be sad, or filled with regret. Maybe they will be joyful ~ Adriana Trigiani

He figured that all the threads of his experience would eventually be sewn together, taking shape in harmony and form to create a glorious work of art. ~ Adriana Trigiani

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. ~ Adriana Trigiani

This is where men and women are different, we can put aside petty competition for relationships - they can't. It interferes. ~ Adriana Trigiani

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. ~ Adriana Trigiani

There isn't anything a parent won't do for her child. There is no limit on love. ~ Adriana Trigiani

But the most precious research to me came from the paperwork filed on behalf of my grandparents and great-grandfather. The ship's manifest showed that they could read and write. I am still emotional when I look at those boxes checked yes. ~ Adriana Trigiani

All the things I thought I was - simple and plain and sometime funny - are very small words. They do not begin to describe me. They do not begin to express what is inside of me. I have value, and I have worth. I cannot be replaced like old shoes or taken for granted like tap water. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The clock over the mantel in the beau parlor at the Milbank House ticked ~ Adriana Trigiani

I come from hardworking, determined people on both sides of my family ... the kind who live with a hard reality from which much strength comes. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Two different things. Work is survival, and love sustains you. You have work anytime. But love? Not always. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Its not so much about the shoes, but the person wearing them ~ Adriana Trigiani

I only wish I had more of myself to give; somehow my heart does not seem big enough to hold what I feel for him. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Mom, how do you know if the guy is the guy?"
You mean if he'll be a good husband?" She pauses, then says "The ticket is for the man to love the woman more than she loves him."
Shouldn't it be equal?"
Mom cackles. "It can never be equal."
But what if the woman loves the man more?"
A life of hell awaits her. As women, the deck is stacked against us because time is our enemy. We age, while men season. And trust me, there are plenty of women out there looking for a man, and they don't mind staking a claim on somebody else's husband, no matter how old, creaky, and deaf they are. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I even love the smell of books. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Enza studied the photograph of her parents on their wedding day as if it were a map. In a sense it was, as they were creating a destination, a life together. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Writing is writing. It's an abiding, wonderful talent, craft, gift that stays with you your whole life. And you can go in different forms, and you can try them. Look at me: I'm writing novels because I found something I love because I tried it. ~ Adriana Trigiani

If you truly love someone, when he is cut, you bleed. ~ Adriana Trigiani

As a matter of habit, I stop and pick up seashells that interest me, and I always put the ones I really like in a lovely Baccarat bowl in my living room. It's my way of remembering that I once was young and carefree. ~ Adriana Trigiani

My mother was an avid reader ... She loved books about romance. Books that took place in faraway places and times. Stories with costumes ... ~ Adriana Trigiani

I wonder if he knows that every time I make a joke, a little piece of my heart breaks off. It's just self-defense. It seems whenever we get close, he leaves. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Ciro had made a bet in proposing to her, and on that same day, Enza made a bet of her own. She was putting all her money, effort and future into a partnership that she believed could not fail. She was going to pour all of herself into her marriage: love would sustain them, and trust would see them through. That was her belief, and that's how she was raised. When she spun the gold ring on her finger, it was as though it was made for her, but it meant even more that her husband had worn it since he was a boy. She was a part of his history now. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I've learned that it's fine to have expectations, and dreams are wonderful, but once in a while, it would be good to have something come my way without having to fight for it. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I loved him more than he loved me, and that is a bad place for a woman to be. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Who's the artist?"
"My favorite." She pauses. "Unknown." Edydie sits cross-legged on the couch. "There is something so pure about an artist creating something for the sheer joy of it, then sharing it with people and claiming no credit. To me that's the height of romance. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Salad of baby spinach, artichoke hearts, and slices of fig, drizzled with olive oil and salt and a little fresh lemon juice, ~ Adriana Trigiani

I've learned one important lesson in my life, and I'm going to share it with you. Don't worry about bad things that haven't happened yet. It will save you a lot of anxiety." Colin ~ Adriana Trigiani

He sank into the leather seat and held hope in his heart like a hundred stars. ~ Adriana Trigiani

You kick a dog long enough, and eventually it will bite. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The wise man leaves the past behind like a pair of boots he has outgrown. ~ Adriana Trigiani

But that's the beauty of boarding school. I make all my own decisions, small and medium, while the big ones are left up to the Prefect Academy - and as far as boys go, to the only expert I know - Suzanne Santry ~ Adriana Trigiani

I want to be closer to the sky. Closer to the pink moon. And closer to the stars that shine over South Bend, which turn out to be the very same ones that twinkle over Brooklyn. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Energy has to be fed from a source. If you don't feed the source, it dissipates entirely.
Same is true of liking a boy. If you cut off the thoughts, if you stop pinning, you're free to find a boy who is attainable. ~ Adriana Trigiani

If only men came made to order. It's so hard to find a decent fellow. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Life is a mystery to lived, not a problem to be solved. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The distance between the haves and the have-nots is a train ride. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Nobody ever told me that motherhood was temporary. You think you have years and years with them, but the truth is, you don't. ~ Adriana Trigiani

A higher goal is always reached by overcoming fear. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The best thing a father can do for his son is love his mother. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Grief doesn't hit and run; it stays. and sometimes for a very long time. ~ Adriana Trigiani

When you lose someone, they take a bigger place in your heart, not a smaller one. Every day it grows, because you don't stop loving them. You wish you could talk to them. You need their advice. But life doesn't always give us what we need, and it's difficult. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I'm writing novels because I found something I love because I tried it. Don't be afraid to shake it up. ~ Adriana Trigiani

For young fellows like them, the war was a chance to become men, to see the world and save it and return home as American citizens. It didn't occur to either of them that lives would be lost, that the world they were to defend would shift under their feet and never be the same again. They only dreamed of the adventure. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Romy had never done a budget, Marisol had never designed costumes and sets, and Suzanne had never acted, but when I asked them to help, they didn't hesitate ~ Adriana Trigiani

Ciro carried himself like a general in full regalia, when in fact he wore secondhand clothes from the donation bin. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The Wise County Bookmobile is one of the most beautiful sights in the world to me. When I see it lumbering down the mountain road like a tank ... I flag it down like an old friend. I've waited on this corner every Friday since I can remember. The Bookmobile is just a government truck, but to me it's a glittering royal coach delivering stories and knowledge and life itself. I even love the smell of books. People have often told me that one of their strongest childhood memories is the scent of their grandmother's house. I never knew my grandmothers, but I could always count on the Bookmobile. ~ Adriana Trigiani

And when you clear away the cobwebs of the description of every job in the world, at the bottom of that job is service. It's service. And I took that ethic and applied it to my writing craft. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The intimacy. The deepest level of love. The knowledge that someone understands you, is rooting for you, is sharing your life. ~ Adriana Trigiani

The first stage of widowhood is paperwork. ~ Adriana Trigiani

We need the work. We'll do a ~ Adriana Trigiani

Ciro was beginning to understand the concept of America, and it was changing his view of the world and of himself. A man could think clearly in a place that gave breadth to his dreams. There ~ Adriana Trigiani

Moments are history. If you have enough of them, they become a story. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Everything has to be clean and orderly when I sit down to write. I have candles going, and small objects that remind me of what I am working on, or bring me into the world of the character. ~ Adriana Trigiani

Really? We are being herded on a bus to drive across town to an all-boy academy where we disembark and join our lonely counterparts on a dance floor. Sounds like a scorecard situation to me. ~ Adriana Trigiani

If there is one thing I hope my books do always and forever, it's that they honor working people. ~ Adriana Trigiani

I don't use a crap camera, I don't eat junk, and I'm not going to a dance where the boys are bores ~ Adriana Trigiani

I have been a joy to live with all spring: Upbeat, warm and tender, uncomplicated, and loving. I am no trouble at all. You could press me into dough and make sugar cookies out of me, I've been so sweet. ~ Adriana Trigiani

There is no worse feeling than being unable to assuage the suffering of the innocent. ~ Adriana Trigiani

A library is a home filled with our stories. On every shelf, we see ourselves, experience our collective conscious, describe our dreams and our great longing for times that have passed, the sterling moment of the present and the glorious future known only in our imaginations. ~ Adriana Trigiani

If the yellow patent leather flats fit... ~ Adriana Trigiani

There was an especially deep bond between the eldest and the youngest. Enza and Stella were the beginning and end, the alpha and omega, the bookends that held all the family stories from start to finish as well as the various shades and hues of personality and temperament. ~ Adriana Trigiani

none of us are good enough for Alfred, ~ Adriana Trigiani

What's a true Italian?" "He loved his family and he loved beauty. For a true Italian, those are the only two things that matter, because in the end that's what sustains you. ~ Adriana Trigiani

You never know when some small thing will lead to a big idea. Travel is very inspirational - but it's in the ordinary that I find my themes of love and work and family. ~ Adriana Trigiani

That we looked out for one another- that we watched out for each other's kids and shared the harvest of our gardens and took care of our old people, and when we did the little things, like bake a cake, we'd bake two, one for our home and one for the neighbor. ~ Adriana Trigiani