My Italian Bulldozer Quotes
"People split up. That’s all there is to it, I suppose."
"I like wasting time with you, Paul – you know that."
"The dark anarchic force of sex… That explained so much."
"People do strange things. They fall for the most unlikely people."
"But falling for one’s therapist is surely entirely natural – of course we’re going to fall in love with people who listen to us."
"Misery was like bad weather; it was just there, and no number of optimistic comments could make the weather better."
"Woman is fickle, like a feather in the wind, changes in voice and thought… So true."
"The only way you’re going to get over this is to… well, to move on."
"You have everything going for you – everything."
"Misery is nothing to do with objective good fortune."
"La donna è mobile sounds nice, but is utterly false, as so many operatic themes are."
"We do not want those of our friends who embark on adventures to get away with it."
"Every time one of my friends succeeds, I die a little."
"What happened in the past remains rather vivid for me."
"The past has a much bigger shadow than people believe."
"A people who are subjected to bad treatment will bear resentments, will be suspicious."
"All I’m saying is that your old friends are the ones to help you get started on a new life."
"The important thing was that he was here, exactly where he wanted to be, in a place blessed by everything benign that Tuscany could offer."
"Northern Europe liked order; Northern Europe wanted people to give receipts, to observe the law, to pay for parking – in short, to do everything that Italy had never really had the inclination to do."
"Supererogatory: more than was required by duty… it was a perfect fit."
"They were honest vehicles – honest in the sense that they did not purport to be anything other than what they were."
"He looked up at the sky, empty and filled with a lambent blue. He wanted to break into song, but did not, of course."
"This is a place where the unexpected happens."
"Always address a tenente as Capitano; always address a conte as Principe. If demotion always hurts, promotion invariably pleases."
"It was the scent of place, the subtle signature of an entire landscape. It was the smell of Tuscany."
"The pleasure he had felt on waking up that morning – the sheer delight of being in a place like this, free of the restraints of home – had not faded."
"Italy was full of people who simply sat in cafes, he reminded himself, and few of them seemed to be unhappy or anxious."
"You can’t expect people to choose poverty because it’s picturesque."
"There are so many wonderful wines – some of them not at all well known."
"The world," he said, with a sigh, "Politicians and their tricks. Wars. Floods. Bad accidents. That's our world, isn't it?"
"At the heart of this Tuscan tradition of plain cooking lie beans in all their simplicity."
"If you know you do something well, then it doesn't matter what others think."
"This was because if he did not move the sign and went off to park his bulldozer beyond the town boundaries, that income would be lost to the public purse."
"They were not about luxury or speed; they did what they were meant to do and no more. They made no statement; they said nothing about the people who drove them. They earned their living and made no demands."
"It was a physical sensation as much as an emotional one, and he felt as if he were suddenly lighter – able, if he wished, to float upwards and look down on the track, the trees, the farmhouse, the cluttered yard."
"It was a form of intoxication, a relief from self, a feeling of a sort to accompany being picked up by the wind and effortlessly borne away to a place that it alone decided."
"People need somebody to laugh at, don’t you think?"
"The food people eat here – anywhere in rural Tuscany, for that matter – is much the same as the food their grandparents ate."
"Politicians rely on that. They prefer people not to examine Plan A too closely, let alone Plan B."
"The anti-pasta movement didn’t get far – the mangiamaccheroni, the macaroni eaters, triumphed in the end."
"I think it’s hard to beat Parmesan when it’s just the right age."
"It’s not hard to write a book about food and wine, you know. It’s all been written before – somewhere."
"That’s what they understand. That’s the peasant mentality, you see."
"Yes, life, but love in particular – that’s the hard bit."
"Love hurts. That’s what they say, isn’t it? Love hurts."
"You never know what you’ll stumble upon in Tuscany, particularly in a Tuscan wood at the right time of year."
"I suppose that’s the way affairs come to an end."
"I suppose you’re right. I suppose that’s the way affairs come to an end. Somebody grabs a fork and stabs the other in the hand. And that’s it."
"It’s just that people don’t hire bulldozers. They don’t drive them around Tuscany. They just don’t."
"I don’t know about my life. I just don’t know."
"You give pleasure to people. That’s a perfectly good thing to do with your life."
"We do. We need to believe in something. For most of us that includes having some sense of where we’re going."
"The problem is that you don’t have a sense of your future."
"That’s very condescending," Onesto said. "What if I don’t want his mercy? What if I deny the existence of such a thing?"
"Our prayers are not to the sky," said Stefano quietly. "They are to …"
"That’s what being in love is like. It’s like waiting for something terribly important to happen; it’s like being on the edge of something; it’s like hearing loud chords of Bach resonating in some great cathedral; it’s like surfing a giant wave, being carried, barrelled along by the roaring watery creature beneath one."
"I don’t like to give advice," said Stefano. "Even if people expect me to do so because I am a priest."
"Follow your heart," said Stefano. "It’s the best compass there is."
"It is always hard to leave friends," said the driver, as he started the engine.