A Sea of Troubles Quotes

“We never know them well. Do we?”
“Who?”
“Real people.”
“What do you mean, real people?”
“As opposed to people in books,” Paola explained. “They’re the only ones we ever know well. Or know truly.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“Life had taught him to be profoundly suspicious of coincidence, and it had similarly taught him to view any seemingly random conjunction of events or persons as coincidence and thus be suspicious of that, as well.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“I think people prefer to remember happy times, well, happier times, and if they can't remember them, then to change the memories and make them happier.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“contenting himself with smaller ones: a happy family, a decent life, the attempt to do his job as well as he could. It seemed to him little enough to ask of life, and he settled for those hopes.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“So I don’t think it makes any difference if someone warns people that the clams are dangerous, or the fish or the shrimp. They’re going to say that their parents always ate them and they lived to be ninety or they’re going to say that you can’t worry about everything. Or they’re going to get angry that you’re trying to take people’s jobs away from them. But the one thing you’re not going to do is stop people from doing what they want to do, whether it’s eat fish that glows in the dark or pay a bribe so they can go on catching and selling it.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“And we certainly have no sense of historical memory, not as a society, that is. I had a look at Chiara’s history book last week, and it frightened me. In the chapters on this century, it just glides right past the Second World War. Mussolini makes a walk-on appearance in the Twenties, then he’s led astray by the wicked Germans, and then it’s all over and Rome is free again. Though not before our valiant troops fought like lions and died like heroes.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“Her smile was involuntary. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘What did you pack?’ ‘Surprises,’ he answered, and this time she noticed the way his smile always began at his mouth and then crept up into his eyes. ‘Good. I just hope one of them is mortadella.’ ‘Mortadella?’ he asked. ‘How did you know? I love it, but I never think anyone else does, so I never bring any. It’s such peasant food: I can’t imagine anyone like you eating it.’ ‘Oh, but I do,’ she said with real enthusiasm, ignoring his compliment, at least for the moment. ‘It’s true, isn’t it? no one feels comfortable eating it any more. They want, oh, I don’t know, caviare or lobster tails, or …’ ‘When what they’re really lusting for,’ he broke in, ‘is a panino with mortadella and so much mayonnaise it drips out of the sandwich and down their face.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“He left larger goals and desires to others, contenting himself with smaller ones: a happy family, a decent life, the attempt to do his job as well as he could. It seemed to him little enough to ask of life, and he settled for those hopes.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles

“She lengthened her stride, aware at every step of how long she'd been sitting at a desk and how much her body rejoiced in this simple act of walking on the beach in the sun.”
― Donna Leon, A Sea of Troubles