It was irritating to have one's physical shortcomings pointed out quite so plainly twice in one evening, once by a beautiful girl and once by a dying badger.

At any given time, ninety-nine-point-nine-five per cent of the human race are a confounded nuisance

Human beings can get used to virtually anything, given plenty of time and no choice in the matter whatsoever.

Not only had he lost the only girl he'd ever loved, he'd lost her in duplicate, like some heartbroken but highly efficient civil servant.

Mostly I sit at home in the evenings watching the box and hoping that one day I'll evolve into plankton.

Luck, like a Russian car, generally only works if you push it.

New technology is useful, but it's inefficient and ugly; it knows it'll be obsolete by lunchtime tomorrow, so it has no incentive to be anything else