"Now between '45 and '48, things would change enormously, 'cos we'd had credit in United States, credit from the Bank of America, credit from the Import-Export Bank and people had started working again."

"Well, Italy had been overrun by the War, there had practically been civil war, north and south of the Gothic Line, heavy bombing, the northern industrial cities had been bombed heavily and we had political disorder before 1948."

"The factories were heavily bombed, but practically the construction work had been redone very quickly."

"I mean, what Fiat had it was not very big, it was something like forty or fifty million dollars, but it's enough to get revolving credit, to get starting away again, the buying of new machinery."

"Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check."

"He that lives upon hope will die fasting."

"What I've really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership."

"You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up."