Adriana Trigiani Quotes & Sayings

Enza thought no place on earth could be colder than the Italian Alps, but now she knew she just had never been to Minnesota. — 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

She savored their conversation, and often, when doing her chores, she remembered the words he said to her and how hopeful he was that she might kiss him again. Now she wished she had. because one kiss is not enough. — Adriana Trigiani

He knew that men learned how to love; they weren't born with that capacity. He knew the qualities of a godd man included all the aspects that concerned Marco: loyalty, fidelity, ambition, and gentleness. — Adriana Trigiani

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

Food was celebration, conversation, and nourishment. The table is where the big decisions of the family are made and all the arguing takes place. — Adriana Trigiani

Anything you ever make that matters takes a long time. Some artists never see their work in front of an audience, so for them 15 years is a blink of an eye. I am nothing but grateful. — 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

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

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

But what Mom never told me is that along the way, you find sisters, and they find you. Girls are cool that way. — 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

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

Art makes the spirit soar. And when the spirit is lifted, life follows. — 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

As we gather around the rough-hewn farm table made by my grandfather, I am reminded that my family has come together for generations in this same way. Summers were always our favorite times; we would eat outdoors under the shade of a tree - hand-rolled pasta with a sauce of fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden, cheese from my Aunt Carmella, olive oil sent by our cousin in Santa Margherita, and wine from our own jugs. After having our fill of food and laughter, we'd pluck ripe figs right off the trees, peel and eat them until the sun disappeared into the blue. I can still taste those summer days, and will always do everything in my power to re-create them. — Adriana Trigiani

When I observe Gram, I see how fragile the notion of tradition can be. If I take my eyes off the way she kneads her Easter bread, or if I fail to study the way she sews a seam in suede, or if I lose the mental image I have of her when she negotiates a better deal with a button salesman, somehow, the very essence of her will be lost. When she goes, the responsibility for carrying on will fall to me. My mother says I'm the keeper of the flame, because I work here, and because I choose to live here. A flame is a very fragile thing, too, and there are times when I wonder if I'm the on who can keep it going. — 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

If the yellow patent leather flats fit... — 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

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

He promised to love me. And for once in my life, I'm going to do the impractical, unwise, ill-advised thing. I'm going to make a decision based upon the feeling I have in my heart, and not what looks good on paper or makes anyone else happy. I'm going to do something for me, and I'll live with whatever Ciro brings into my life and be happy that I did. — Adriana Trigiani

I began as a dramatist in the theater, so I'm always thinking about how a story moves, what it looks like, how to engage the senses, how dialogue sounds, what feels authentic and sounds real, what's funny, how to build distinctive and original characters - all the aspects of playwriting, scene-building, the architecture of dramatizing. — Adriana Trigiani

When a girl is beautiful, she gets to pick - she never has to wait for someone to choose her. — Adriana Trigiani

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

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. — 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

You're a drunk, and it's no wonder your husband stays in West Virginia. — Adriana Trigiani

She told me something that 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 — 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

Moments are history. If you have enough of them, they become a story. — 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

I listen while my brothers-in-law and father talk college football, as always, the chatter loops around to Notre Dame, and will the Fighting Irish place in the polls this year. The number of the year may change, the children may get older, and we may add in a new baby or spouse here and there, but every autumn, and everything Thanksgiving, the talk turns to Notre Dame football and will they or won't they. — Adriana Trigiani

Women move through the world never knowing their power. — Adriana Trigiani

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

What I wouldn't give to have known my father with my mother in love-together, you know, just the two of them, in the kitchen laughing, making a sandwich, or holding hands on the street, seeing my father open a car door for my other. The absence of those things are what makes you an orphan-it's the ordinary everyday expressions of love you miss. — Adriana Trigiani

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

You must pray.'
'No, Sister.' Ciro smiled weakly. 'I'm not a good Catholic.'
'Well, Ciro, you're a good man, and that's more important. — 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

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

Tonight, I am a Perfect Girl, because I had a perfect night. And it ended with three perfect kisses. Three. What a lucky number. — Adriana Trigiani

A dozen ... chocolate chip cookies ... a pot of coffee, and a good book are all I will need for the rainy weekend rolling in. — 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 love actors and I love to create an environment where they feel safe to connect and thrive and try things, to fail and succeed and flourish and fly. — Adriana Trigiani

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

Sometimes things don't always go the way we want this side of Heaven — 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

We hang out, we help one another, we tell one another our worst fears and biggest secrets, and then just like real sisters, we listen and don't judge. — 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

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

I care what my reader thinks. There is no fancy recommendation you can give me that would matter to me as much as Mary Jane from Youngstown writing me a letter. There is not one. Don't need it, don't want it, don't require it, does not fill up my soul. It's about her, not about the rest of it. — Adriana Trigiani

I loved to read, still do, and it seemed that the writing was a result of the love of books and reading and libraries. — Adriana Trigiani

Isn't this the truth of any good mother? That in all of our lives. We worry only about those we brought into this world, regardless of whether they loved us back or treated us fairly or understood our shortcomings. — 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

No one worries about you like your mother, and when she is gone, the world seems unsafe, things that happen unwieldy. You cannot turn to her anymore, and it changes your life forever. There is no one on earth who knew you from the day you were born; who knew why you cried, or when you'd had enough food; who knew exactly what to say when you were hurting; and who encouraged you to grow a good heart. When that layer goes, whatever is left of your childhood goes with her. — Adriana Trigiani

He said a man should always have to work hard to win a woman's heart, because when he gets it, it's worth it, and he'll never take it for granted. — Adriana Trigiani

I love rhinestones, faux jewelry. — Adriana Trigiani

I have decided that love is only real and true when it makes you feel safe. — 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 learned that I wasn't happy. It's a terrifying thing to admit. It puts everyone around you in a state of paralysis because they think that they are somehow responsible for your sadness and can fix it. Of course they cannot. I know happiness exists somewhere and if I knew where, I would go to it and claim it. I realize I have spent my life reacting to things and not initiating them. — Adriana Trigiani

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

I fell in love with reading when I was allowed to choose whatever books I wanted to check out of the library. I was around nine years old when I began choosing my own books in earnest. — 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

The lane. I turn to Jack. What do you think? — Adriana Trigiani

Ciro pointed through the — Adriana Trigiani

The girl who built her life so carefully so she'd never have to ask anybody for anything. I have had it with me. Whoever I was! — Adriana Trigiani

The operators were bound together by what they were running from - poverty in all its forms, despair, hunger, decimated families - as well as what they hoped to gain. Their imaginations were filled with American treasures: — Adriana Trigiani

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

Maybe a first love exists to reaffirm the best parts of yourself, the choices you made when you didn't worry about the consequences. Maybe a first love exists to remind you to be brave in the moment, to stand up for your feelings, instead of shrinking back in the face of potential loneliness. — Adriana Trigiani

That's why Kathleen." Alfred doesn't answer. We sit in silence until he says, "I'm sorry you walked in on us. I'm a hypocrite. Maybe you even like that I'm one." "Come on, Alfred." He looks up at me. "At least let me be ashamed of myself." "Too late. Self-flagellation is not going to help you now." "It's over. With Kathleen, I mean." "That's a start." "What else can I do? I can't even face myself. I have to tell Pamela." "Oh — Adriana Trigiani

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

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

Nationalism had now replaced neighborliness. — Adriana Trigiani

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. — 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

The world was noisy . As Ciro looked around, he was the only person who seemed to be listening. — Adriana Trigiani

That's my little piece of heaven. Go ahead."
Ciro followed Remo through the open door to a small enclosed garden. Terra-cotta pots positioned along the top of the stone wall spilled over with red geraniums and orange impatiens. An elm tree with a wide trunk and deep roots filled the center of the garden. Its green leaves and thick branches reached past the roof of Remo's building, creating a canopy over the garden. There was a small white marble birdbath, gray with soot, flanked by two deep wicker armchairs.
Remo fished a cigarette out of his pocket, offering another to Ciro as both men took a seat. "This is where I come to think."
"Va bene," Ciro said as he looked up into the tree. He remembered the thousands of trees that blanketed the Alps; here on Mulberry Street, one tree with peeling gray bark and holes in its leaves was cause for celebration. — Adriana Trigiani

Happenstance and accidents didn't seem so random. The mystery of the connections intrigued him, but he wasn't going to agonize about them, and he had not yet reached an age where he was interested in analyzing them either. 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. But who would sew those pieces together? Who would make him whole? That was something Ciro thought about a lot. Before — Adriana Trigiani

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

There were all manners of souvenirs and trinkets for sale when Ciro and Luigi disembarked from the ferry into the port of lower Manhattan. Signs advertising Sherman Turner cigars, Zilita Black tobacco, and Roisin's Doughnuts graced rolling carts selling Sally Dally Notions and Flowers by Yvonne Benne. The stands competed for the immigrant business. Ciro and Luigi came face to face with the engine of American life: You work, and then you spend. — 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

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

As a solider, Ciro had learned that good men can't fix what evil men are intent on destroying. He had learned to choose what was worth holding on to, and what was worth fighting for. Every man had to decide that for himself, and some never did. He had not survived the Great War to return home the same man. — Adriana Trigiani

All your life you was one thing. And now you can be something else if you want! Somebody completely different. You can actually start yourself over from scratch. Turn yourself into what you have always wanted to be! — Adriana Trigiani

The only urgent thing in life is the pursuit of love. You get that one right, and you've solved the mystery. — Adriana Trigiani

Pomegranate Soup is glorious, daring and delightful. I adored the Iranian sisters, Marjan, Bahar and Layla, who are looking to build a life, start a business and find love in a place so far from home. Ireland has never been more beautiful - the perfect setting for this story filled with humor, hope and possibility. — 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

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

Our faces will become works of art that our grandchildren will treasure. — 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

The dance that I wasn't going to attend in about a jillion years just turned into a make-out session with random boys we have never met. — Adriana Trigiani

It's the secret to happiness, you know. Only take what you need. — 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

Marriage is like working in a coal mine. You hack away in the dark, day after day, busting rock, and you think you're not getting anywhere, and then all of a sudden, this little sliver of sunlight appears and you say to yourself, oh, that's what I've been waiting for
just a little light, just a little bit of hope
a sign, maybe, that will get me through. And ... it does. — Adriana Trigiani

Don't worry about bad things that haven't happened yet. It will save you a lot of anxiety. — Adriana Trigiani

The young have everything but wisdom. — Adriana Trigiani

If you look around to find meaning in everything that happens, you will end up disappointed. Sometimes there aren't reasons behind the terrible things that go on. I ask myself, If I knew all the answers, would it help? I lie awake and wonder why I don't have parents and wonder what will become of my brother and me. But when the morning comes, I realize that there's nothing to be done about what has already happened. I can only get up and do my chores and push through the day and find the good in it. — Adriana Trigiani

And now I'm old. That bus is parked permanently. The battery is dead. And I can't remember where I put the jumper cables. — Adriana Trigiani

When people are filled to the brim with love, they are their most beautiful. — 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