I'm definitely an American, because I grew up here. But I've lived very happily in Britain.

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.

... it occurred to me that never again would he be seven years, one month and six days old, so we had better catch these moments while we can.

What is it about maps? I could look at them all day, earnestly studying the names of towns and villages I have never heard of and will never visit.

Human beings would split the atom and invent television, nylon, and instant coffee before they could figure out the age of their own planet.

It was an especially wonderful time to be a noisy moron.

It is a curious feature of our existance that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it.