Theophile Gautier

Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution.

Eyes so transparent that through them the soul is seen.

Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.

The Parthenon without the marbles is like a smile with a tooth missing.

Recently, I was in Bernalda, my dad's ancestral home town in Italy. He has just refurbished a palazzo and turned it into a hotel, so we had my sister's wedding there. It was beautiful.

Teeth actually turn out to be one of a couple of good sources of ancient DNA. The teeth, actually the enamel, is quite good at preserving the DNA, so it is a bit of time capsule so to speak.