I refer of course to the soaring wonder of the age known as the Eiffel Tower. Never in history has a structure been more technologically advanced, materially obsolescent, and gloriously pointless all at the same time.

It's hard not to be kind of pessimistic about human beings generally, because we do tend to mess things up. If you just look at the history of extinctions, we've killed off an awful lot of animals - and I don't think we're doing a very good job of looking after the planet.

When the poet Paul Valery once asked Albert Einstein if he kept a notebook to record his ideas, Einstein looked at him with mild but genuine surprise. "Oh, that's not necessary," he replied . "It's so seldom I have one.

Most of what has lived on Earth has left behind no record at all.

I see litter as part of a long continuum of anti-social behaviour.

I have long known that it is part of God's plan for me to spend a little time with each of the most stupid people on earth.

... 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.