The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.

Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing.

Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress.

Walking was not fast enough, so we ran. Running was not fast enough, so we galloped. Galloping was not fast enough, so we sailed. Sailing was not fast enough, so we rolled merrily along on long metal tracks. Long metal tracks were not fast enough, so we drove. Driving was not fast enough, so we flew. Flying isn't fast enough for us. We want to get there faster. Get where? Wherever we are not. But a human soul can only go as fast as a man can walk, they used to say. In that case, where are all the souls? Left behind.

His father was self-made, but his mother was constructed by others, and such edifices are notoriously fragile.

You hear doom and gloom about the Internet ruining young people's command of English - that's nonsense.

The threat to the planet is us. It's actually not a threat to the planet - it's a threat to us.