Airplanes have dulled and desensitized us; we are encumbered, like lovers in a suit of armor.

I hate vacations. I hate them. I have no fun on them. I get nothing done. People sit and relax, but I don't want to relax. I want to see something.

You define a good flight by negatives: you didn't get hijacked, you didn't crash, you didn't throw up, you weren't late, you weren't nauseated by the food. So you are grateful.

I never stay with people and I never look people up when I travel. I depend more on just chance meetings. The advantage is that people don't know who I am. I meet people casually and they're not doing me a big favor because I'm going to write something.

The measure of civilized behavior is compassion.

One of the pleasures of reading is seeing this alteration on the pages, and the way, by reading it, you have made the book yours.

An island is a fixed and finite piece of geography, and usually the whole place has been carved up and claimed.