Silence is the garment of light.

All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination.

I love cloisters, which are the architectural equivalent of a theological concept: perfect freedom within set boundaries.

The past can be tamed and controlled.

Kindness and intelligence don't always deliver us from the pitfalls and traps: there are always failures of love, of will, of imagination. There is no way to take the danger out of human relationships.

the islands of Italy combine all the elements - fire, water, earth, and air - and that is irresistible.

The real reason women fall in love abroad is not that they are free of domestic inhibitions but that they translate their love of stone and place into love of flesh. ... Is this true?