He had the sort of face that makes you realize God does have a sense of humor.

I had spent the whole of my savings ... on a suit for the wedding - a remarkable piece of apparel with lapels that had been modelled on the tail fins of a 1957 Coupe de Ville and trousers so copiously flared that when I walked you didn't see my legs move.

You may find that your parents are the most delightful people, but you don't want to live with them.

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.

In a funny way, nothing makes you feel more like a native of your own country than to live where nearly everyone is not.

I'm not funny in person. I mean I'm really not. I'm one of those people who always screw up anecdotes.

The taipan is the one to watch out for. It is the most poisonous snake on Earth, with a lunge so swift and a venom so potent that your last mortal utterance is likely to be: "I say, is that a sn--