My house is a place I have spent many years improving to the point where I have no desire to leave it.

What I find is that you can do almost anything or go almost anywhere, if you're not in a hurry.

You may not know it but I'm no good at coping with all the attention in the luxury hotels I sometimes find myself in.

You go away for a long time and return a different person - you never come all the way back.

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.

In countries where all the crooked politicians wear pin-striped suits, the best people are bare-assed.

There is an intense but simple thrill in setting off in the morning on a mountain trail, knowing that everything you need is on your back. It is a confidence in having left the inessentials behind and of entering a world of natural beauty that has not been violated, where money has no value, and possessions are a dead weight. The person with the fewest possessions is the freest. Thoreau was right.