I never wanted to be rich or successful or famous. I just wanted to be happy and have fun. – Donna Leon
I came to Venice for the first time in 1968 and was lucky enough to make the acquaintanceship, and then the friendship, of two Venetians, Roberta and Franco, who remain my best friends here after almost 50 years. – Donna Leon
I do not take any pleasure whatsoever in being a famous person. – Donna Leon
Italians know about human nature – they understand human nature perhaps better than anyone else does. They know that people are weak and greedy and lazy and dishonest and they just try to make the best of it to work around it. – Donna Leon
All of us encounter, at least once in our life, some individual who utters words that make us think forever. There are men whose phrases are oracles; who can condense in one sentence the secrets of life; who blurt out an aphorism that forms a character, or illustrates an existence. – Benjamin Disraeli