I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.

I'm aware that, if you feel down, it can be strangely unrelated to circumstances around you. That's just the way life is.

One of the difficult things of so much travelling is to say goodbye.

I saw novelists as being admirable people and I thought... I thought... maybe, one day, I could be one of them.

You can't get a suit of armour and a rubber chicken just like that. You have to plan ahead.

I wanted to be an explorer, but gradually found the world had been explored and that there was nowhere left, really. Once they climbed Everest in 1953, when I was 10 years old, I thought, 'Well, that's pretty much it now.' But the idea of travelling and exploring and adventure was very strong.

I am certainly more interested in interviewing than being interviewed. Sometimes you find yourself attacked from the start.