“Vianello had the knack of getting people to talk. Especially if they were Venetians, the people he interviewed invariably warmed to this large, sweet-tempered man who gave every appearance of speaking Italian reluctantly, who was only too glad to lapse into their common dialect, a linguistic change that often carried its speakers along to unconscious revelation. ”

“The authors (Habsburg military personnel) invariably show some surprise when recounting a respectable performance of a regiment during its Italian period and are forced to admit, somewhat reluctantly, that the Italians were not such bad soldiers after all. [I think this quote is hilarious, especially when imagining Tommaso's reaction.]”

“My thinking changes all the time. People may read an interview I gave a year before and assume that's who I still am. But usually I've changed altogether.”

“(Rigg) had often complained that all these languages were useless, and Father had only said, "A man who speaks but one language understands none.”

“I have often been charged with falsehood and hypocrisy, yet there lives not the man who would more gladly than I speak truthfully and lay bare his heart; but as I have not one idea, one feeling in common with the people who surround me, as the very first word I should speak truthfully would cause a general hue and cry, I have preferred to keep silent, or, if I do speak, to utter only stupid commonplaces which everyone has agreed to believe in.”

“I always get a little bit irritated when people talk about 'bringing poetry to the people' especially those poet - performers who seem to assume their audience hasn't read anything, as though 'the people' were some ignorant mass incapable of taste. 'Bringing poetry to the people'? Speaking as a people, I go out and get it as long as its available. When people hear any kind of excellence or panache in the use of language in pop songs or movies they notice it, they talk about it. That's because it's available - inescapable, in fact - while my local library is shutting down.”