Italy is a country which is willing to submit itself to the worst governments. It is, as we know, a country ruled by disorder, cynicism, incompetence and confusion. Nevertheless we are aware of intelligence circulating in the streets like a vivid bloodstream.

Being moderate with oneself and generous with others; this is what is meant by having a just relationship with money, by being free as far as money is concerned.

As soon as we see our dreams betrayed we realize that the intensest joys of our life have nothing to do with reality, and we are consumed with regret for the time when they glowed within us. And in this succession of hopes and regrets our life slips by.

My tidiness, and my untidiness, are full of regret and remorse and complex feelings.

I think of a writer as a river: you reflect what passes before you.

No adultery is bloodless.

England is a country where people stay exactly as they are. The soul does not receive the slightest jolt.