I remember perfectly my first trip to New York, when I was on the bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan, when I saw the skyscrapers. It was like an incredible dream.

Put a compass to paper and trace a circle. Then tell me which other country has such a concentration of places like Amalfi, Naples, Ischia, Procida, Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii, and Capri.

When I am walking in Central Park, I recognize the Italians. Because an Italian, even when he jogs, he's dressed perfect.

Italian style is a natural attitude. It is about a life of good taste. It doesn't have to be expensive. Simple but with good taste. Luxury is possible to buy. Good taste is not.

My father taught me respect for quality as well as a sense of dignity - great values as we face a world going in a different direction. I try to teach my children to stay close to the real things.

I was born and I live in a small village, where the centre of life is the square, and the small bar/cafe.

Image is something you construct, while reputation starts at home. If you are able to pass on solid values to your children, then they can become citizens of the world.

My father wasn't absolutely delighted. He wanted me to become a lawyer. I studied law, but I thought the shoe business was more exciting.

You try to be young, maybe you like to have a few toys, but it's not the most important thing in life.

When it is possible, I choose to have a quiet life.

I am a liberal. I want everyone to be well.

Your assignment will always be a forerunner to others’ assignments. Also, others’ assignments will always be forerunners to yours.

Democracy is not just the right to vote, it is the right to live in dignity.

Anyway, I have long had a very definite tendency to tune out the moment I come anywhere near either a pulpit or a soapbox.

When Hamid dropped Lata off at her house at nine that night, he felt hollow. The touch of her soft body was sheared from him like bark from a tree, and he spent the entire night tossing and turning.

What deep wounds ever closed without a scar? The hearts bleed longest and but heal to wear That which disfigures it.

If you come with mercy but not justice; that's called enabling.

Lose the world, get lost in it, and find your soul.

A highly developed stock exchange cannot be a club for the cult of ethics.

But you I never understood, Your spirit's secret hides like goldSunk in a Spanish galleon Ages ago in waters cold.

We can make ourselves whole only by accepting our partiality, by living within our limits, by being humans not by trying to be gods.