beware the Lure of a handsome Face, the all too ready Assumption that the lovely Façade must needs have lovely Chambers within; for as 'tis with Great Houses, so, too, with Great Men.

From Roman times to the present, Italy has been a country to fall in love with - a tribute to all that is enduring, crazy, pagan, joyous, melancholy, at once banal and divine, in the human spirit.

The worst thing about jealousy is how low it makes you reach.

Few women see power as an end in itself. The point of power is the freedom to cultivate roses.

We find our calling or it finds us, and it's a sin against the fates not to use your talent when you have it.

I don't know what the definition of pornography is and nobody else does either. Pornography is somebody else's erotica that you don't like. People are interested in their own sexuality and they've always reflected it in their art. End of story.

When I sit down at my writing desk, time seems to vanish. I think it's a wonderful way to spend one's life.