"Everyone in Venice is acting. Everyone plays a role, and the role changes."

"Venetians never tell the truth. We mean precisely the opposite of what we say."

"I was lying when I said that."

"Venice once had twelve opera houses. Now we have none. One more nail in the coffin. Look at it! An empty shell. Just like Venice."

"It's not Napoleon's royal box any longer, nor is it Austria's. It's ours."

"My view is that I belong to a great relay race of Murano glassmakers. In my opinion, the last runner does not exist... And that is one of the major differences between my father and me. My father thinks of himself as the last runner in the race."

"I was struck by the similarity between what happened to your mother and the story in The Aspern Papers. Are you familiar with that novel?"

"We've been living...