All through graduate school, instead of having a television I read murder mysteries: Hammett, Chandler, Ruth Rendell, P. D. James. Donna Leon More Quotes by Donna Leon More Quotes From 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 lazytryingpeople And off in the far distance, the gold on the wings of the angel atop the bell tower of San Marco flashed in the sun, bathing the entire city in its glistening benediction. Donna Leon distanceangelcities I have always had a particular antagonism for the military. Donna Leon antagonismparticularmilitary This is a fallen world. People lie, the truth gets distorted, and that's the way it is. What's for dinner ? Donna Leon lyingpeopleway Oh, so seldom does fate cast our enemy into our hands, to do with as we will Donna Leon fatehandsenemy So much of contemporary crime fiction is painful to read and obsessed with violence, particularly against women, and I can't read that. Donna Leon violencepainfulfiction I never know what's going to happen in a novel. I don't have a plan or an outline. Donna Leon outlinesplansnovel Venetians feel affection and loyalty to their city, rather than to the Italian state. Donna Leon italianloyaltycities I don't go to the movies because I don't like films. Donna Leon film My father read 'The New York Times,' my mother did secretarial work, we had a dog, we had a garden, I had a brother. Donna Leon brotherdogmother I know you shouldn't spit in your own soup but I think most crime writing is like TV and doesn't make enormous demands on one's intellect. Donna Leon demandwritingthinking I do not take any pleasure whatsoever in being a famous person. Donna Leon pleasurepersons I was extraordinarily lucky. I wrote a book because I wanted to see if I could write a mystery. Someone nagged me into sending it to a contest, which it won, after which I was offered a two-book contract, thus requiring the writing of a second book. Donna Leon writingtwobook favors are always for ourselves. Especially when we ask for things for other people. Donna Leon asksfavorspeople Sit around the bars, talked to people, ate in the restaurants, and chatted with the old ladies on the street. Fishermen are pretty much that way. Donna Leon barspeopleway I find the idea of vigilante justice very attractive. I like the idea that the murderer decides that this person has gone too far, and nothing will happen to him unless she does something to stop him. Donna Leon doejusticeideas And I don't want to live anywhere where I am famous. It makes me very, very uncomfortable, because it conveys an advantage over people, and I don't like that. Donna Leon advantagewantpeople I was at La Fenice opera house back in 1991 with friends, and we started talking about a conductor whom none of us liked. Somehow there was an escalation, and we started talking about how to kill him, where to kill him. This struck me as a good idea for a book. Donna Leon talkingbookideas The ending is one of my blackest, utterly without hope of any sort. Donna Leon without-hope We buy things. We wear them or put them on our walls, or sit on them, but anyone who wants to can take them away from us. Or break them. Donna Leon wallstupidbelieve
