“It was very pleasant to savor its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present. -Tita”

“You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea.Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup.Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy.If you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future, you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea.You will look down at the cup, and the tea will be gone.Life is like that.If you are not fully present, you will look around and it will be gone.You will have missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and beauty of life.It will seem to be speeding past you. The past is finished.Learn from it and let it go.The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about it.Worrying is worthless.When you stop ruminating about what has already happened, when you stop worrying about what might never happen, then you will be in the present moment.Then you will begin to experience joy in life.”

“Songs and smells will bring you back to a moment in time more than anything else. It's amazing how much can be conjured with a few notes of a song or a solitary whiff of a room. A song you didn't even pay attention to at the time, a place that you didn't even know had a particular smell. I wonder what will someday bring back Dex and our few months together. Maybe the sound of Dido's voice. Maybe the scent of the Aveda shampoo I've been using all summer.”

“In those days you could identify a person's nationality by smell. Lying on her back with eyes closed, Desdemona could detect the telltale oniony aroma of a Hungarian woman on her right, and the raw-meat smell of an Armenian on her left. (And they, in turn, could peg Desdemona as a Hellene by her aroma of garlic and yogurt.)”

“The novels, travel books and poems I read had a particular smell. The smell of cellars. An almost spicy smell, a mixture of dust and grease. Verdigris. Books today don't have a smell. They don't even smell of print.”

“An event in the present evokes past sensations. But science couldn't explain how a foolish heart had the power to overrule common sense.”