In a town in Calabria, a long time ago, there lived an old lady everyone called Strega Nona, which meant "Grandma Witch".
A great gift would be a map full of evacuation routes for the city, subtly telling the recipient to get the hell out of town.
There are days you live through; mediocre days that people may see as a waste or even boring. But they are each days that get you to the days you live for; the moments that you never forget.
Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don't talk in English and don't even want to.
I want to tell her that the pleasure for me wasn't planning or doing or leaving; the pleasure was in seeing our strings cross and separate and then come back together.
Your party kicked so much ass!Even though you suck so much! It's like, instead of blood, your heart pumps liquid suck! But thanks for the beer!
humans lack good mirrors. It's so hard for anyone to show us how we look, and so hard for us to show anyone how we feel
Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became one.
I mean, we're ninjas." "Well maybe a ninja," I said "You're just a really loud, awkward ninja," Margo said, "but we are both ninjas.
High school is neither a democracy nor a dictatorship - nor, contrary to popular belief, an anarchic state. High school is a divine-right monarchy.
And I wanted to tell her that the pleasure for me wasn't planning or doing or leaving; the pleasure was in seeing our strings cross and separate and then come back together.
I don't believe in prom,' I reminded her as she rounded a corner. I expertly angled my raisin bran to accomodate the g-forces. I'd done this before.
That poem is so damned long. You'd think old Walt could have taken a line or two to tell us how to unscrew the door from its jamb.
As we walked, I kept taking glances at her through the crowd, quick snapshots: a photographic series entitled Perfection Stands Still While Mortals Walk Past.
It's like she thinks my job is to please her, and that should be my dearest wish, and when I don't please her - I get shut out.
The humans lack good mirrors. It's so hard for anyone to show us how we look, and so hard for us to show them how we feel.
Everything was quiet now. It was even too freaky quiet. The house seemed big without anyone else inside. It felt lonely; like a ghost town.
In this town to know three languages is an unnecessary luxury. It's not even a luxury, but a sort of unnecessary addition, like a sixth finger. We have a great deal of superfluous knowledge.
If you insist on digging for the truth, you can start at the cemetery. But not the one on the wealthy side of town, because I already dug up everything of value.
[B]aseball is diffracted by the town and ballpark where it is played... Does baseball, like a liquid, take the shape of its container?
that he live in all respects so compactly and preparedly that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety.
