This is the sad bed of chosen chastity because you are miles and mountains away.

Though my friends envied me because I always seemed so cheerful and confident, I was secretly terrified of practically everything.

Venice is ever the fragile labyrinth at the edge of the sea and it reminds us how brief and perilous the journeys of our lives are; perhaps that is why we love it so. City of plagues and brief liaisons, city of lingering deaths and incendiary loves, city of chimeras, nightmares, pigeons, bells. You are the only city in the world whose dialect has a word for the shimmer of canal water reflected on the ceiling of a room.

The trick is not how much pain you feel - but how much joy you feel

You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy.

Is a currency worth anything if no one wants it? We used to buy shoes in Italy. Remember?

I'm interested in what happens to people when they get into that publicity machine. We tend to think things have changed, but there's still a deep sexism underlying the way women are treated publicly.