The Tuscan Secret Quotes

“young believe they will be young forever, and the old have always been old.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“They were very dark times for me, but my doctor was a kind woman and she urged me to continue to write down my feelings. And writing did help a little.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“How lovely is youth Which is over far too soon! Grab your happiness while you may: There is no certainty in tomorrow.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“for”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“Ines taught her a few simple words in Italian when she was little, but never when Father was around. He went berserk if he heard her speaking anything but English.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“The journey into memory. May the living learn from the fate of those who died.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“them”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“the grass is not always greener.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“To say that God exists may be a lie, but to say that He does not exist may be an even bigger lie.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“If the young had the wisdom of the old, then I would have followed what was really in my heart and stayed in Rofelle. I have learned over the years that the answers to all the questions we ask ourselves are already inside us. All we have to do is be quiet and listen.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“At home, Mamma always cut the bread in the same way for every meal. She cradled the big, round pagnotta in her left arm next to her heart, while with her right hand she held the knife and cut towards her body. ‘I won’t harm myself,’ she would say to Davide and me when we warned her to be careful. ‘This bread is a gift from God, precious. The good Lord won’t let me come to harm.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“Our people really suffered. I know the war is long over, but we should never forget.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“They stop at the first place they come to in Casteldelci and, sitting at an outside table, order two large glasses of local red wine. Taking one look at Anna’s face, the bartender asks if they have come from the shrine. ‘Do you know,’ he continues, ‘my mother was only seven at the time of the war, and she tells me she could write nothing about the present, but a whole book about those terrible days.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“Il viaggio della memoria. Imparino i vivi dal destino dei morti.’ She translates slowly: ‘The journey into memory. May the living learn from the fate of those who died.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“war creates beasts of men and there are too many other accounts of cruelty to fathom”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“Man’s inhumanity to man. I doubt animals are so heartless…”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“You said you couldn’t bear to be here any more. Is that why you’re marrying him? So you can escape all this? Your memories will chase you wherever you go, you know.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“He saved my life that day, covering me with his body without thinking of his own safety.’ Both of us went quiet then, and I saw tears running down his face again. ‘He was too young, yes, and at times I think he saw war as a kind of game, but his death wasn’t pointless, Ines. You must never think that.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“In the end, people are not so very different from each other, you know.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“Free-range eggs made into a huge frittata containing zucchini flowers and red Tropea onions, sprinkled with shavings of parmigiano, browned under the grill until bubbling and golden; stuffed tomatoes and aubergines roasted in the oven and portions of rabbit and chicken seasoned with garlic and rosemary with tiny crisp potatoes. They finish off with bowls of ricotta topped with the first wild strawberries, picked from the slopes above the agriturismo.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“She thinks about the passage of time, and how short a lifetime is in the scheme of things.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“Dadda wasn’t always such a crosspatch. But the war changed him, you see. Horrible things happen in wars. It was difficult for everybody, but the young soldiers saw cruel things that people do in times of war. We must make allowances for his tempers.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“They say everybody has a book inside them but what you’ll read isn’t fiction, it was the truth. And I believe our story deserves to be told. The war still casts its long shadow over our lives even though more than fifty years have gone by.”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret

“Quant’è bella giovinezza che si fugge tuttavia! Chi vuol esser lieto, sia: del doman non c’è certezza. Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–92) How lovely is youth Which is over far too soon! Grab your happiness while you may: There is no certainty in tomorrow. (Author’s translation)”
― Angela Petch, The Tuscan Secret