There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can't think of one at the moment.

All politicians, even the most idealistic ones, are looking for money, sucking up to rich people.

Although I'm not fluent in sign language by a long way, I could have a fairly decent conversation.

I like the idea of isolation, I like the idea of solitude. You can be connected and have a phone and still be lonely.

Notice how many of the Olympic athletes effusively thanked their mothers for their success? “She drove me to my practice at four in the morning,” etc. Writing is not figure skating or skiing. Your mother will not make you a writer. My advice to any young person who wants to write is: leave home.

My love for traveling to islands amounts to a pathological condition known as nesomania, an obsession with islands. This craze seems reasonable to me, because islands are small self-contained worlds that can help us understand larger ones.

Travel is only glamorous in retrospect.