I’ll always marvel at the liveliness of southern speech-so full of metaphor and hyperbole, quirks and vividness.

Life offers you a thousand chances... all you have to do is take one.

The Italians have their priorities right: They're driven, they do their work, but they really enjoy the day-to-day and they don't put off the enjoyment of the everyday for some future goal.

What has impressed me the most about the Italians whose tables we've sat at is that they are traditional cooks but also outrageously innovative. These people are wild improvisers.

Where is it written that houses must be beige? Any dun colored house would look better if painted pineapple, cream, ochre, or even a smart sage.

Any arbitrary turning along the way and I would be elsewhere; I would be different.

Never lose your childish enthusiasm and things will come your way.