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The Heart's Almanac

by Ezio Massa

Trinity Books · November 2, 2026

A warm, wise companion for travelers, built around the oldest small wisdom people carry.

Reading time: About 2 h 10 min (at 230 words a minute)

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Cover of The Heart's Almanac

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Length138 pages

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Details

AuthorItaly Ezio Massa
CategoryProverbs and sayings / World cultures / Travel reading / Folklore studies
Language of the bookEnglish
PublishedNovember 2, 2026
Length138 pages
Product numberTB-W0017-EN
Reading timeAbout 2 h 10 min (at 230 words a minute)
Print-ready PDFA5 · interior PDF and cover PDF (with 3 mm bleed) · 138 pages

Categories of this book

CategoriesWords and readingProverbs and sayings

CategoriesLearning and general knowledgeWorld cultures

CategoriesWords and readingTravel reading

CategoriesLearning and general knowledgeFolklore studies

About this book

"Put a German saying next to a Chinese one and a Russian one, and you will find the same advice wearing three different coats," said the traveler. Over one year at a small inn where several roads meet, an innkeeper and a returning traveler lay about two hundred proverbs from many languages side by side, one feeling of the heart at a time.

Two hundred proverbs, four seasons and one lantern by an inn's door.

At a small inn where several roads meet, the innkeeper lights the lantern by the door every evening. Once in every season a traveler comes back to it with a small notebook full of sayings she has gathered on her journeys, and the two of them talk late into the night.

Each chapter is one of those evenings, from the first thaw of spring to the end of winter, and each takes one feeling of the heart: beginnings, patience, friendship, longing, temper, courage, gratitude, sorrow, homesickness, kindness to strangers, forgiveness and contentment.

About two hundred proverbs and sayings from many languages appear side by side, each in its original wording and in plain English, with its meaning and the custom or story behind it. Again and again, the sayings of faraway regions turn out to say the same thing in their own way.

Short sample conversations put you on the road: missing a train, sharing bread in a guesthouse kitchen, writing a postcard home, arriving late in the snow. Every chapter also offers a small thing to try on your own travels and a short aside on a word, a custom or a festival.

What you can take on your next journey

  • About two hundred proverbs and sayings from many languages, each in its original wording
  • The meaning of each saying and the custom, story or word behind it
  • Sample conversations that show how a saying is really used on the road
  • A way to compare the sayings of different regions and hear what they share
  • Twelve feelings of the heart, from beginnings to contentment, followed through one year
  • A small thing to try in every chapter, on the road or at home
  • Short asides on words, customs and festivals that travelers meet

Contents

  • The Heart's Almanac
  • A Map of the Book
  • Early Spring and First Steps
    1. The Lantern Relit
    2. Hard Beginnings Everywhere
    3. Steps Beneath the Feet
    4. Half the Work Begun
    5. The Lumpy First Pancake
    6. Forging and Starting Somewhere
    7. The Measure Called Li
    8. Plans Made in Spring
    9. Hope That Stays Last
    10. Words on a Ticket
    11. First Drops on the Glass
  • Spring Rain and Patience
    1. Rain on the Lantern Glass
    2. Measures Filled Slowly
    3. Dust Into Mountains
    4. Water Through Stone
    5. The Bird's Slow Nest
    6. Roads Walked Slowly
    7. Three Years on a Stone
    8. Seedlings Pulled Too Soon
    9. Old Measures for Grain
    10. The Waiting-Hour List
    11. The Key to Relief
  • Blossoms and Old Friends
    1. A Letter Under Blossoms
    2. The Companion Before the Road
    3. Picnics Under Petals
    4. Older Friendships Weighed
    5. Treasures and Rubles
    6. Help in Lean Times
    7. Bitter Honest Words
    8. Friends on Foreign Roads
    9. Brothers by Choice
    10. Clear Accounts Between Friends
    11. Postcard in Two Languages
    12. Warming the Old Bond
More
  • Long Days and Longing
    1. The Question Left Open
    2. Fondness or Forgetting
    3. Far From the Eyes
    4. Three Autumns in a Day
    5. A Word Called Saudade
    6. The Cough That Shows
    7. Reasons the Heart Ignores
    8. Drums Heard From Afar
    9. The Distant Stick
    10. Letters at Long Dusk
    11. Clouds Over the Hills
  • Summer Storms and Temper
    1. Thunder Over the Crossroads
    2. Losses Counted After Anger
    3. Counsel of the Night
    4. Three Strokes of a Brush
    5. Sparrows and Four Horses
    6. Anger in Its Place
    7. Teacups and Mended Things
    8. The Roots of Temper
    9. A Saying on a Ticket
    10. Rain Leaving the Hills
  • High Summer and Courage
    1. Back From the High Pass
    2. Frightened Eyes, Busy Hands
    3. Wits Before the Tiger
    4. Wolves at the Forest's Edge
    5. Dogs That Only Bark
    6. The Snake and the Rope
    7. Daring in Four Tongues
    8. Seven Falls, Eight Risings
    9. The Doll That Rights Itself
    10. One Small Fear Each Day
    11. A Lantern in the Heat
  • Harvest and Gratitude
    1. The Farmer's Cart at Dusk
    2. Water and Its Source
    3. Stones in the Well
    4. Salt Between Friends
    5. The Frog and the Tadpole
    6. Teeth of a Gift Horse
    7. Forty Years of Coffee
    8. Heads of Ripe Rice
    9. Words Before a Meal
    10. A Note to an Old Host
    11. Apples Beside the Lantern
  • Falling Leaves and Sorrow
    1. The Miller's Empty Seat
    2. Sorrow Cut in Half
    3. Clouds Across the Moon
    4. The Old Man's Horse
    5. Nights That End in Morning
    6. The Ring of Passing Time
    7. Turnings in the Road
    8. Grieving Together
    9. A Leaf Between the Pages
    10. Lantern Light on Wet Leaves
  • Late Autumn and Homesickness
    1. The Question at the Door
    2. One Hearth, Many Tongues
    3. Gold of One's Own Hearth
    4. Nests of Straw and Gold
    5. Leaves Returning to Roots
    6. The Place That Feeds You
    7. The Chicken at Home
    8. The Doctor's New Word
    9. Counting Your Hearths
    10. The Lantern Facing the Road
  • First Snow and Kindness
    1. Snow on the Lantern Glass
    2. The Guest as God's Beloved
    3. Two Days, Then a Hoe
    4. The Stranger's Manners
    5. Whatever the House Holds
    6. Companions on the Road
    7. Kindness That Comes Back
    8. Shelter in Each Other
    9. The God of Guests
    10. The Gift in Your Pocket
    11. Footprints at the Gate
  • The Long Night and Forgiveness
    1. The Longest Night
    2. Skilled Swimmers and Climbers
    3. No One Without Fault
    4. A Fault Confessed
    5. Pride Before the Fall
    6. Room to Meet Again
    7. Friends After a Quarrel
    8. The Crack in the Wall
    9. Water Past the Mill
    10. Pomegranates at Yalda
    11. Two Words for the Road
    12. Oil Before Dawn
  • Winter's End and Contentment
    1. Thaw at the Crossroads
    2. A Feast of Enough
    3. Birds in the Hand
    4. The Length of the Quilt
    5. Eight Parts Full
    6. A Word for Just Enough
    7. Laughter at the Gate
    8. Good Face to Bad Weather
    9. Snow Before the Harvest
    10. Three Enough Things
    11. The Road Turning Again
  • One Last Question
  • Colophon

From the publisher

A warm, wise companion for travelers, built around the oldest small wisdom people carry.

This book reads like an evening by a warm lantern with someone who has walked many roads. The innkeeper asks, the traveler answers from her notebook, and between them the proverbs of many languages are laid out side by side, each with its original words, its plain meaning and a short scene that shows how you might hear it or use it on a journey.

Following the seasons, the book moves from the hope of early spring to the quiet contentment of late winter, and its long, friendly sentences invite slow reading, one evening at a time, at home or with a bag packed by the door.

What we like

  • About two hundred proverbs from many languages, each with its original wording and meaning
  • Twelve chapters through the four seasons, each about one feeling of the heart
  • Sample conversations that place you, the reader, in everyday travel situations
  • A small thing to try and a short aside on a word or custom in every chapter

Recommended for

  • People who love to travel and like to know what the people they meet are saying
  • Readers who collect words and sayings from other languages
  • Readers curious about the stories behind everyday expressions
  • Anyone who wants a warm book to read slowly, one evening at a time
  • Families and friends looking for sayings to share at the table

Read it in another language

You can buy any language edition on this page: choose it under “Language of the book” in the buy box above. Each language also has its own page.

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