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Old age was a box of surprises and not the good kind.
Who would tell the story of the elephant when she was gone? A family was only as strong as their stories.
Fate was a wrecking ball. She didn’t know when it would swing through to do its damage; she was only certain, from experience, that it would.
When Matelda was young, she chased time to get what she wanted. Now she chased time to hold on to it.
When a young person visits an old person, they assume that the old person has nothing to do all day but sit around watching the clock, waiting to die.”
Sometimes things happen in life and you will have to carry your family. You’ll need money to do it.”
Frustration, the jet fuel of anxiety, welled within her.
Her children would have, at best, a sketchy knowledge of the history behind the pieces. Without facts, there was no meaning behind them; without meaning, there would be no value.
The pieces that remained intact would be salvaged to sell as vintage collectibles on one of those websites that wealthy people peruse because they have nothing better to do than acquire more stuff.
“When I’m a mother, I will always talk to my children no matter what they do.” “You will do your best when the time comes, just like your mother.”
No one should have a family of their own until they know their history.”
“You’ve let go of the old grudges. You two are getting along now.”
“Nino is a tit-for-tat person. He always has been. It’s only lately that his primary emotion is not anger. Maybe he is on some kind of medication.” “Maybe he’s tired of fighting.”
Who is given a beautiful gift and before she’s even tried it on imagines it lost?” “Someone who doesn’t want to lose anything.”
“I’m breaking down like a used car.” She sighed. “As long as it still runs and gets you where you want to go, who cares?” Olimpio kissed his wife good night. “Even when we’re broken, we’re beautiful.”
He had to expect this; after all, they were octogenarians and something was bound to go wrong with one or the other, or even both of them. But the time had come too quickly. There were still memories to make.
“You are my child and I am your advocate. I will fight anyone, any army, any cleric, even the pope himself, on your behalf.
Even if you were well liked, even if you served them, there was no defense against the powerful. They could discard you on a whim.
“When you own something of value, people assume you are worth something too. Wear the watch so they know your worth.”
My mother had an expression: ‘Just because they’re Italian doesn’t mean they’re good.’ There are good and bad people everywhere.
No matter what Matteo does, he is revered. No matter what I do, I’m judged.
“If I’m not good enough, why am I expected to do all the heavy lifting? I know you love me, but your love came with conditions. And it still does.”
A wise woman once said that the bride should wear black and the widow white. The bride mourns the loss of hope and the widow is finally free of the pain.”
“When you find your purpose in life, it changes you. You see things differently. More clearly. You love more and better. You solve problems and are able to help others solve theirs because you stand in strength. You live in the whole world, not in your small corner of it. You serve.”
“When you marry a man from your own village, you know how he salts his food.”
Love finds its way; it clears all obstacles.”
It was one of those dreams where you have a task and you cannot complete it because your feet are rooted in the earth.
McVicars was furious, but he knew from years of experience that his rage would do nothing to move his mother to see his point of view.
They are sending the Tallies away because they are involved in all sorts of treachery. They cannot be trusted. They’re dirty. They gamble, they sell liquor, they take jobs from our young men because in Scotland, swarthy is exotic. Well, you see how exotic they are as they are shipped out to sea as common criminals. Churchill didn’t move fast enough, in my opinion.”
“The authorities can’t tell a good Tally from a bad one, so they all have to go,”
The Britalians did not believe that these teachers were any more a threat to the English government than they were. But it didn’t matter. They were the side without weapons.
“It’s almost impossible to prove one’s loyalty. It’s a lot like love, it can only be proved in reciprocity,”
For anything to grow in this world, you had to first love it.
He counted the prongs of Orion and moved the lens across to find Venus and Jupiter, a pair of twinkling agates in a peacock-blue sky. His despair left him in the presence of such majesty.
When I look back, there is nothing like the feeling of being responsible for someone else’s heart. It was one of the great gifts of my life.”
She learned that time could not be the measurement for the things that lasted. Sometimes what endured was that which changed us in a matter of moments, not years.
“But the first thing that leaves in success is the memory of what it felt like to be poor. We shed that insecurity like an old pair of shoes the moment there’s money in the bank. We slip into fine leather and forget how badly our feet used to hurt.”
I 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 .
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.”
“Listen to me. 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.”
