How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"How foul, Excellency! A nephew of yours ought not to marry the daughter of those who're your enemies who have stabbed you in the back! […] It's the end of the Falconeris, and of the Salinas too." (3.54)
Fabrizio's friend Ciccio is aghast when he learns that Fabrizio's nephew Tancredi is going to marry the daughter of the mayor of Donnafugata. For Ciccio, the aristocracy should never mix with the commoners, no matter how rich these folks might be. On top of all that, he blames democratically elected idiots for pushing the elegant, intelligent aristocrats out of power.
Quote #5
"[Till] I came along we'd been an unlucky lot, buried in the provinces and undistinguished, but I have the documents in order, and one day it will be known that your nephew has married the Baronessina Sedàra del Biscotto." (3.82)
Don Calogero is sensitive to the fact that his daughter is marrying a man from a noble family (Tancredi). To show his respect, he tells Fabrizio that his daughter is actually descended from a noble family, too, and that he can secure the necessary papers to prove it. Turns out that this guy has a little more social tact than anyone's willing to give him credit for.
Quote #6
[Free] as he was from the shackles imposed on many other men by honesty, decency, and plain good manners, he moved through the jungle of life with the confidence of an elephant which advances in a straight line. (4.1)
In a way, Fabrizio respects Don Calogero for not caring about all the mannerisms that aristocrats care about. Don Calogero marches through life clumsily and ignorantly, but he always gets where he's going, kind of like an elephant marching through the jungle.