A happy childhood is the worst possible preparation for life.

My three favorite travel writers of all time are Robert Louis Stevenson, Graham Greene, and Chuck Thompson. Smile When You're Lying not only tells the truth about the travel-writing racket, it gets to the heart of some of the travel industry's best-kept secrets.

These days, there are many people around the world who listen to the songs that made me infamous and read the books that made me respectable.

There is a difference between who is important and who is significant.

When you record something, you never know who's going to hear it.

Inspiration thing is important, to teach the kids that JFK is not an airport, RFK's not a stadium, Martin Luther King ain't a street

The folks in Mississippi are saying, 'Thank God for Texas.'