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Naples Quotes

Browse 58 quotes about Naples.

Naples Quotes

“Naples, however, did not need buskers: the cacophony of frenzied traffic made its own music with melodic beeping of horns in a repertoire of rhythms and beats reflecting drivers’ moods. Stravinsky might have composed the music as a choreographer might have choreographed the vehicles’ dances – zigzagging, twisting, turning, stopping and starting.”

WomenFictionManchesterContemporary FictionNaplesJewish CultureLbgt
Book:A Glimmer Through the Breach
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“Avevano ragione i Napoletani, che dai Greci antichi discendevano, quando, di fronte alla sventura, al dolore, borbottavano rassegnati: «Accossì adda ì», ben sapendo che nessuno, nulla modificano il corso delle cose. E che però niente al mondo dura un'eternità. Ogni fenomeno deve per forza generarne un altro, che gli somiglia perché è figlio, ma è pure diversissimo. Così dopo la pioggia viene il sereno, dopo il brutto il bello. Se non ci fossero dolore, brutto, pioggia, come gusteresti il contrario? Tu aspetta e ciò che deve avvenire avverrà. Se agisci per cambiarlo o evitarlo, vuol dire che doveva andare in questa "nuova" direzione. Il destino non puoi mai farlo fesso.”

DestinyNaplesNapoli
Author:Enzo Striano
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“In awe at the sheer beauty of the setting, Celina stepped onto the balcony, which overlooked a terrace garden of fruit trees. "It's so beautiful here." She breathed in, catching the scent of fruit trees below. "What type of fruit are you growing?" "Mostly lemon," Sara said. "But also olive, grapefruit, orange, fig, and pomegranate. With our temperate climate, most everything thrives." Celina peered over the balcony's edge. To one side, a cliff dropped to the sea, while on the other, a terrace sprawled along the hilltop perch. Flaming pink bougainvillea and snowy white jasmine curled around the corners of grapevine-covered archways that framed the shimmering ocean view.”

FlowersItalyFruit TreesNaplesOcean View
Book:The Chocolatier
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“My friend Mimmo, who owns three men’s shops in Rome but who comes from Naples where his father was in the same business, says that nowadays, after two days in Naples, he can’t wait to leave again. “Life in Rome is not easy, but at least there are some certainties. In Naples, forget it. The only thing that counts there is prepotenza,” roughly, bullying or arrogance.”

RomeItalyNaplesItalian CultureItaliansCapital City
Book:My Home Sweet Rome: Living (and loving) in Italy's Eternal City
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“The mainstay of Italian coffee lore, la tazzina del caffe, or an espresso, as served by one’s local bar and during the day consumed - generally - standing up, is another one of those things about which Italians have very strong feelings. The purists want is very dense, ristrettissimo, which is the way they serve it in Naples...”

CoffeeItalyEspressoNaplesItalian CuisineItalian Culture
Book:My Home Sweet Rome: Living (and loving) in Italy's Eternal City
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“I believe that books, once they are written, have no need of their authors. If they have something to say, they will sooner or later find readers; if not, they won’t. . . . I very much love those mysterious volumes, both ancient and modern, that have no definite author but have had and continue to have an intense life of their own. They seem to me a sort of nighttime miracle, like the gifts of the Befana, which I waited for as a child. . . . True miracles are the ones whose makers will never be known. . . . Besides, isn’t it true that promotion is expensive? I will be the least expensive author of the publishing house. I’ll spare you even my presence.”

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Author:Elena Ferrante
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“Fu un momento indimenticabile. Andammo verso via Caracciolo, sempre più vento, sempre più sole. Il Vesuvio era una forma delicata color pastello ai piedi della quale si ammucchiavano i ciottoli biancastri della città, il taglio color terra di Castel dell'Ovo, il mare. Ma che mare. Era agitatissimo, fragoroso, il vento toglieva il fiato, incollava i vestiti addosso e levava i capelli dalla fronte. Ci tenemmo dall'altro lato della strada insieme a una piccola folla che guardava lo spettacolo. Le onde ruzzolavano come tubi di metallo blu portando in cima la chiara d'uovo della spuma, poi si frangevano in mille schegge scintillanti e arrivavano fin sulla strada con un oh di meraviglia e timore da parte di tutti noi che guardavamo. Che peccato che non c'era Lila. Mi stenti stordita dalle raffiche potenti, dal rumore. Avevo l'impressione che, pur assorbendo molto di quello spettacolo, moltissime cose, troppe si spampanassero intorno senza lasciarsi afferrare. Mio padre mi strinse la mano come se temesse che sgusciassi via. Infatti avevo voglia di lasciarlo, correre, spostarmi, attraversare la strada, farmi investire dalle scaglie brillanti del mare. In quel momento così tremendo, pieno di luce e di clamore, mi finsi sola nel nuovo della città, nuova io stessa con tutta la vita davanti, esposta alla furia mobile delle cose ma sicuramente vincitrice: io, io e Lila, noi due con quella capacità che insieme - solo insieme - avevamo di prendere la massa di colori, di rumori, di cose e persone, e raccontarcela e darle forza".”

SoleMareNaplesIspirazioneElena FerranteNapoliVentoNaples ItalyMy Brilliant FriendVesuvio
Book:My Brilliant Friend
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“One encounters in the streets, late at night on the evenings of fetes, the most strange and bizarre passers-by. Do these nights of popular celebration cause ancient and forgotten avatars to stir in the depths of the human soul? This evening, in the movement of the sweaty and excited crowd, I am certain that I passed between the masks of the liberated Bythinians and encountered the courtesans of the Roman decadence. There emerged, this evening, from that swarming esplanade of Des Invalides - amid the crackle of fireworks, the shooting stars, the stink of frying, the hiccuping of drunkards and the reeking atmosphere of menageries - the wild effusions of one of Nero's festivals. It was like the odour of a May evening on the Basso-Porto of Naples. It was easy to believe that the faces in that crowd were Sicilian.”

StrangeRomeCelebrationBizarreAncient RomeNeroNaplesSicilyStreet LifeSicilianRomansOrgyAvatarsAncient RomansBythiniansNight Streets
Author:Jean Lorrain
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“Under alle omstendigheter, og da skyver jeg alle spørsmål om mine egne mangler til side, er jeg ankommet på et tidspunkt da disse folkene i sine hjerter må være grundig syke og kvalme av oss. For et år siden frigjorde vi dem fra fascistmonsteret, og de sitter fortsatt der og gjør sitt beste for å smile høflig til oss - like sultne som alltid og mer plaget av sykdommer enn noensinne, i ruinene av sin vakre by der lov og orden har opphørt å gjelde. Og hva er gevinsten de til slutt kan vinne? Demokratiets gjenfødelse. Den vidunderlige utsikten til en vakker dag å bli i stand til å velge sine egne herskere fra en liste over mektige menn, hvorav de flestes korrupthet er alment kjent og akseptert med trett resignasjon. Benito Mussolinis dager må fremstå som et tapt paradis sammenlignet med dette.”

OccupationWwiiNaplesNapoli
Book:Naples '44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy
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“«A Napoli la rivoluzione pochi la capiscono, pochissimi l'approvano, quasi nessuno la desidera». E Pagano aggiunse che incuteva paura proprio perché nessuno la capiva: incomprensibile, diventata mito. «Più che mito, moda» ribatté Cuoco. [...] «E poi, non è incomprensibile» proseguì, torvo, in girandola di tic. «L'idiozia dei nobili, del re, in Francia non poteva non scatenarla. E' più idiota voler far lo stesso in condizioni diverse: le rivoluzioni non s'esportano.»”

RevolutionNaplesNapoli
Book:Il resto di niente
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“There were times, especially when I was traveling for 'Eat, Pray, Love,' when, I swear to God, I would feel this weight of my female ancestors, all those Swedish farmwives from beyond the grave who were like, 'Go! Go to Naples! Eat more pizza! Go to India, ride an elephant! Do it! Swim in the Indian Ocean. Read those books. Learn a language.'”

FeelsBookLanguagePrayingOceanFemaleWeightIndiaGravesIndianSwimAncestorSwearElephantsPizzaPray LoveSwedishEat Love PrayNaplesSwear To God
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“I keep going back to foundation, heritage cooking techniques from my family in Naples and Abruzzi. There are a lot of traditional dishes from those regions that I want to educate my kids' palates about, to pass down that heritage and that lineage. I think my mom would have been pleasantly surprised and absolutely thrilled to have seen all the cookbooks and all the restaurants and all the television I've done.”

ThinkingWantHas BeensDoneKidsTelevisionMomMy FamilyFoundationCookingMy MomTechniqueTraditionalRestaurantsRegionsKeep GoingHeritageEducateDishesCookbookPalateLineageNaples
Author:Rick Tramonto
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“An incipient Mother Man has always inhabited my deeper self; creativity has always been my companion ... I have tried to express myself in a very definite style but by means of all kinds of materials and formats. I wish to discover how my own creativity unfolds under different circumstances... Naples is a dilemma that fatally elicits an oneiric interpretation and I love it and feel grateful because it has nurtured my fantasy.”

MenFeelsKindMeanDifferentSelfMotherWishMy OwnCreativityFantasyStyleMaterialsCircumstancesGratefulDeeperAll KindsCompanionInterpretationDefiniteDilemmaFormatNaples
Author:Augusto De Luca
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“I was 25 years old and pursuing my doctorate in economics when I was allowed to spend six months of postgraduate studies in Naples, Italy. I read the Western economic textbooks and also the more general work of people like Hayek. By the time I returned to Czechoslovakia, I had an understanding of the principles of the market. In 1968, I was glad at the political liberalism of the Dubcek Prague Spring, but I was very critical of the Third Way they pursued in economics.”

PeopleWayYearsPoliticalUnderstandingPrinciplesStudyEconomicMonthsSixSpringEconomicsThirdsWesternCriticalGladPostsLiberalismGraduatesSix MonthsPursuedTextbooksHayekNaplesCzechoslovakiaDoctoratesPrague
Author:Vaclav Klaus
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“It's really the story of a young woman, or two women, growing up in Naples in a poor neighborhood. The way that they get out of it - or don't get out of it - that's part of it. But it's also the story of the mid-20th century in Italy so it's really like a social, historical and personal novel. I think that even though I didn't live in Italy in those years, it did cover that same type of generational upbringing that someone like me might've had in America.”

ThinkingWayYearsTwoStoriesMightAmericaYoungSocialPoorNovelGrowing UpGrowingCenturyTypeHistoricalLike MeNeighborhoodYoung Women20th CenturyUpbringingNaplesPoor Neighborhoods
Author:Ann Goldstein
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“Traveling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty, and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go.”

FirstsI CanSelfFactsHomeDreamLastsLosesJourneySeaSadnessFoolMy FriendsSightWake UpEmbraceIndifferenceGiantsParadiseRomePacksSuggestionsPalacesIdenticalTrunksIntoxicatedUnrelentingNaples
Book:Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson: Easyread Comfort Edition
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“Alexander, you broke my heart. But for carrying me on your back, for pulling my dying sled, for giving me your last bread, for the body you destroyed for me, for the son you have given me, for the twenty-nine days we lived like Red Birds of Paradise, for all our Naples sands and Napa wines, for all the days you have been my first and last breath, for Orbeli- I will forgive you.”

GivingFirstsHeartHas BeensBodyLastsGivenDyingSonMy HeartBirdRedTwentiesBreathsWineForgivingNineBreadDestroyedBrokeParadiseSandPullingBroke My HeartFirsts And LastsNaples
Author:Paullina Simons
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“And for an instant he would remember Naples: sitting with Sasha in her tiny room; the jolt of surprise and delight he'd felt when the sun finally dropped into the center of her window and was captured inside her circle of wire. Now he turned to her, grinning. Her hair and face were aflame with orange light. "See," Sasha muttered, eyeing the sun. "It's mine.”

LightRememberFacesFeltRoomsSunMinesHairSittingWindowSurpriseDelightTinyCirclesInstantOrangeWireCapturedGrinningNaples
Book:A Visit From the Goon Squad
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“Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, the (Rothschild) brothers conducted important transactions on behalf of the governments of England, France, Prussia, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Naples, Portugal, Brazil, various German states and smaller countries. They were the personal bankers of many of the crowned heads of Europe. They made large investments, through agents, in markets as distant as the United States, India, Cuba and Australia.”

WorldFirstsMadeImportantCountryStatesGovernmentUnitedHalfUnited StatesCenturyBrotherEuropeIndiaEnglandInvestmentVariousAgentsFranceAustraliaBehalfSpainBankersCubaNineteenth CenturyNew World OrderBrazilTransactionsBelgiumPortugalAustriaPrussiaNaplesRothschild
Author:G. Edward Griffin
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