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

I am in total silence when I write - I don't even like the sound of the dryer going - I like the quiet. — 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

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

It [money] doesn't have anything have anything to do with the magnificence of a person. It doesn't. What matters is what you make. Whether it's a cake for bingo night or a costume for a saint or a wall of water
whatever you pour into this life is what makes you rich. — Adriana Trigiani

But now I know that youth isn't waiting for you on the other side of wisdom. — Adriana Trigiani

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

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

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

A good mother is irreplaceable. — 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

This is one of those times when explaining a feeling cannot measure up to actually having the feeling — 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

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

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

Orphans have many parents. — 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

Giacomina had taught her daughter that you must dig constantly for meaning in the sorrow of this life, and that this sorrow must galvanize you, not define you. — 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

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

When I close my eyes, all I ever see is her face. There is no place or time without her. Where I am doesn't matter when we're apart. All I want is her. — Adriana Trigiani

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

Do Italians tell you everything they feel without censor? — 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

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

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

But a child's joy is doubled for the mother, and the sound of her son's laughter began to her heart, a feat she had never believed possible — 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

And so, when I was a young writer I always worked hard on imagery, and I knew that the roots of imagery were the senses - and that if my readers could feel, taste and see what I was talking about, I would be able to tell them a story. — 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

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

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

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

A man who can seduce with a turn of phrase will not disappoint in the bedroom. — 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

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

If a man walks in beauty, he will create, and when he creates, he prospers. — 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

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

I have held the following jobs: office temp, ticket seller in movie theatre, cook in restaurant, nanny, and phone installer at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. — Adriana Trigiani

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

Whever I came into the room, she'd light up, so happy to see me. No one ever in the course of my entire life was ever as happy to see me as she was. Looking back, now, I realize that you only ever need one person who lights up that way when you enter a room. One person is all it takes to give a kid confidence. — Adriana Trigiani

The young have everything but wisdom. — 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

Love has a funny way of showing up when you aren't looking for it and didn't plan on it. — Adriana Trigiani

A higher goal is always reached by overcoming fear. — 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

This should tell you everything you need to know about guys. They only go after what they know they can get. We girls, on the other hand, aim really high. We take a leap ... — 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

The first stage of widowhood is paperwork. — Adriana Trigiani

You just do your best, and life will follow. — Adriana Trigiani

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

Life, Enza decided, is not about what you get, but what is taken from you. It's in the things we lose that we discover what we most treasure. — 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

Did you ever find yourself in a place in life where you had committed to something, and you couldn't make it work? — 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

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

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

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

Plans, endless walks without — 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

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

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

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

But more important than all these lovely features of gracious living was the camaraderie of the young residents, who aspired to better lives on the wings of their talent and creativity. — 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 only urgent thing in life is the pursuit of love. You get that one right, and you've solved the mystery. — Adriana Trigiani

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. A — Adriana Trigiani

A man who needs a mirror is looking for something. — 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

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

There was a fleeting cold front, the slight judgment that said immigrants were a necessary fact of life, one that must be tolerated but never truly accepted. The only way to ever become a permanent part of America's greatness would be to defend it. Cassidy — 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

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

A practical girl never pines; she takes action. — Adriana Trigiani

All you needed is what every girl needs, a good friend. Someone to talk to, to share with, to run things by ... — 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

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

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

This is something that I have learned at PA that I would have never learn at home because I have my own room and I'm an only. Nobody has it easy, not even the Great and Tall Blond One — 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

There is a beehive under every pot of honey on the island of Manhattan, — 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

I think it's important to be able to make something, whether it's shoes or sausage. Food, clothing, and shelter are the basic needs of all people. If you master a trade that serves one of those needs, you will work for a lifetime. — Adriana Trigiani