There is the odd exception, like Albert Einstein, but as a breed, scientists tend not be very good at presenting themselves.

In France, a chemist named Pilatre de Rozier tested the flammability of hydrogen by gulping a mouthful and blowing across an open flame, proving at a stroke that hydrogen is indeed explosively combustible and that eyebrows are not necessarily a permanent feature of one's face.

Eating in Sweden is really just a series of heartbreaks.

America is a great disappointment to me. As I said in one of my books, other societies create civilisations; we build shopping malls.

In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe

The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Life doesn’t get much better than this.

Traveling is more fun - hell, life is more fun - if you can treat it as a series of impulses.