“A heart can be shared.Who decided that a 'broken heart' was a bad thing?”

“We always ate with gusto...It would have offended the cook if we had nibbled or picked...Our mothers and zie [aunties] didn't inquire as to the states of our bellies; they just put the food on our plates.'You only ask sick people if they're hungry,' my mother said. 'Everyone else must eat, eat!'But when Italians say 'Mangia! Mangia!' they're not just talking about food. They're trying to get you to stay with them, to sit by them at the table for as long as possible. The meals that my family ate together- the many courses, the time in between at the table or on the mountain by the sea, the hours spent talking loudly and passionately and unyieldingly and laughing hysterically the way Neapolitans do- were designed to prolong our time together; the food was, of course, meant to nourish us, but it was also meant to satisfy, in some deeper way, our endless hunger for one another.”

“I wish i were a little girl again, because skinned knees are easier to fix than broken heart.”

“The heart of creativity is an experience of the mystical union; the heart of the mystical union is an experience of creativity.”

“ Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.”

“I love fictional characters...they can't break your heart.”

“Your heart is free now." "No," he whispered. "It's yours.”