Adriana Trigiani

“I care about the box office, so that's why I go from town to town: because I want people to see it. I would give it for free; I just want those houses full of people watching it.”

“I never knew anybody who didn't want to have a great love in their lives and to make a family.”

“There is no one on earth who knew you from the day you were born; who knew why you cried, or when you'd had enough food; who knew exactly what to say when you were hurting; and who encouraged you to grow a good heart. When that layer goes, whatever is left of your childhood goes with her.”

“You don't get everything you want. That doesn't exist in this realm.”

“Food is so important - it sustains us, it provides a social focal point, and it is fun. I cannot unravel the difference between love in my family and the preparation of food because they are so closely woven.”

“I have held the following jobs: office temp, ticket seller in movie theatre, cook in restaurant, nanny, and phone installer at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.”

“I don't use a crap camera, I don't eat junk, and I'm not going to a dance where the boys are bores”

“When I observe Gram, I see how fragile the notion of tradition can be. If I take my eyes off the way she kneads her Easter bread, or if I fail to study the way she sews a seam in suede, or if I lose the mental image I have of her when she negotiates a better deal with a button salesman, somehow, the very essence of her will be lost. When she goes, the responsibility for carrying on will fall to me. My mother says I’m the keeper of the flame, because I work here, and because I choose to live here. A flame is a very fragile thing, too, and there are times when I wonder if I’m the on who can keep it going.”

“On the cover of 'All the Stars' is a red grosgrain ribbon. It's Loos's ribbon. Ageless, fabulous Loos - she tricked the very people who would have cast her aside like an old shoe if they knew the truth.”

“And when you clear away the cobwebs of the description of every job in the world, at the bottom of that job is service. It's service. And I took that ethic and applied it to my writing craft.”

“Relief is a wonderful emotion, highly underrated. In fact, I prefer it to elation or joy. Relief lets the air out of the Tire of Pain.”

“We have a million ways to get ahold of people, and we're the loneliest we've ever been.”

“I am in total silence when I write - I don't even like the sound of the dryer going - I like the quiet.”

“'All the Stars in the Heavens' takes place during the golden age of Hollywood, around an imagined story about Loretta Young; Clark Gable; Alda, a young woman with a secret who is preparing to become a nun but is cast out of her convent; and the scenic artist she meets on the set of 'The Call of the Wild.' It's a big, lush historical novel.”

“But what Mom never told me is that along the way, you find sisters, and they find you. Girls are cool that way.”

“I don't settle in any other area of my life when it comes to excellence, so why should I lower my standards when it comes to boys?”

“If there is one thing I hope my books do always and forever, it's that they honor working people.”

“As a matter of habit, I stop and pick up seashells that interest me, and I always put the ones I really like in a lovely Baccarat bowl in my living room. It's my way of remembering that I once was young and carefree.”

“I don't like any art form barraged in violence or hurt.”

“I don't leave the house without a book, and I never watch television without one, either.”