146 Quotes by Gina Barreca

Think of the funniest story from your life. Chances are, it was something awful at the time.

I have an intimate relationship with books. After all, I take them with me into the bathtub-not an invitation I offer lightly.

...there is a celebrated aphorism insisting that the best way to live is to 'work like you don't need the money, dance like nobody is watching, and love like you've never been hurt.'...After years of hearing and reading these lines I have decided to tell the truth: the original version is wrong. There is a grave error in the wording of this adage. The correct version should go as follows: Love like you don't need the money, Work like nobody is watching, Dance like you've never been hurt. See? Doesn't that make more sense?

Anger is the quintessential individual-signature emotion: I am what makes me mad.

Having a lean and hungry look was frowned upon in my Italian neighborhood where a girl was considered too skinny if she could make her knees touch.

Confessions are like tattoos in that 1) You convince yourself that the immediate pain of going through the process means it won't bother you later on; 2) They are permanent.

We should remind ourselves that laughing together is as close as you can get to another person without touching, and sometimes it represents a closer tie than touching ever could.

I personally translated the word 'vendetta' as Italian for 'What do you mean, "you want to see other women"?

Humor is a show of both strength and of vulnerability: you are willing to make the first move but you are trusting in the response of your listener.