Fiction writing, and the reading of it, and book buying, have always been the activities of a tiny minority of people, even in the most-literate societies.

Travel is a state of mind. It has nothing to do with existence or the exotic. It is almost always an inner experience.

The larger an English industry was, the more likely it was to go bankrupt, because the English were not naturally corporate people; they disliked working for others and they seemed to resent taking orders. On the whole, directors were treated absurdly well, and workers badly, and most industries were weakened by class suspicion and false economies and cynicism. But the same qualities that made English people seem stubborn and secretive made them, face to face, reliable and true to their word. I thought: The English do small things well and big things badly.

All places, no matter where, no matter what, are worth visiting.

Travel is only glamorous in retrospect.

The people of Hong Kong are criticized for only being interested in business, but it's the only thing they've been allowed to do.

I think that love isn't what you think it is when you're in your twenties or even thirties.