It's not an easy option. The essence of travel is letting go of habit and prejudice and relishing the unfamiliar. Food you've never eaten before, a language you've never spoken before, religion that mystifies, customs that confuse, politics that perplex, all question everyday assumptions about how you live your life.

I mistrust total competence. I've always felt life is a series of small disasters we try to get through.

I'd got over playing a character. People accepted who I was, and if I was incompetent and useless, they felt quite endeared to me.

[There] are people who make a complete and utter mockery of 'democracy' and 'equality' - they're the casualties of the primitive rules of competition which run our society, and the welfare state just keeps them alive. That's all.

The human race should just slow down and think about what it is doing.

I will die, but not retire.

People are still crazy about Python after twenty-five years, which I find hard to believe.