"People do not start off stupid, they grow to be stupid."

“But he found that a traveller's life is one that includes much pain amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are for ever on the stretch; and when he begins to sink into repose, he finds himself obliged to quit that on which he rests in pleasure for something new, which again engages his attention, and which also he forsakes for other novelties.”

“If in normal conditions it is skill, which counts, in such extreme situations, it is the spirit, which saves.”

“The amateurs discuss tactics: the professionals discuss logistics”

“What right have you to take the word wealth, which originally meant well-being, and degrade and narrow it by confining it to certain sorts of material objects measured by money.”

“When John was with me, it was total commitment. Whatever he did outside our relationship didn't seem very important. We were together such a lot of the time that whatever other affairs he had once we met couldn't have amounted to much because I was with him most of the time. He kept me in Liverpool as late as I dared stay.”

“I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”

“In Spain we have a saying about the essentials of life: good food, good wine, good sex, good sleep.”

“Resolve to throw off the influences of any unfortunate environment, and to build your own life to order.”