My parents have been married forty-two years. I wonder how many of those were happy.
I enjoy writing, I enjoy my house, my family and, more than anything I enjoy the feeling of seeing each day used to the full to actually produce something. The end.
Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life
Night falls over Machu Picchu to the sound of Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’.
[There] are people who make a complete and utter mockery of ‘democracy’ and ‘equality’ – they’re the casualties of the primitive rules of competition which run our society, and the welfare state just keeps them alive. That’s all.
Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.
Fame changes everything. When you’re well-known, you’re expected to be different. Some people assume you must have a yacht and four homes. Or that you’re famous because you are ‘A Decent Man’.
I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller.
The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience.
I think you learn a lot about a country from its art. To me, it’s part of the drama of life. It teaches you that there are places, moments and incidents in other cultures that genuinely have a life of their own.
One of the most important days of my life was when I learned to ride a bicycle.