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.

I got the idea that to write books would be the best way to spend a life. I never thought of anything else that seemed like half as much fun, although in my next life I would like to be an architect, too, so I can have an easier time restoring houses.

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

As travel pushes me forward, memory keeps dragging me backward.

The words 'forse che si,' 'forse che no', 'perhaps yes,' 'perhaps no,' repeat along all paths.

Although I am a person who expected to be rooted in one spot forever, as it has turned out I love having the memories of living in many places.

I would like The Discovery of Poetry to be a field guide to the natural pleasures of language - a happiness we were born to have.