For years I felt that being respectable meant maintaining a sinister complacency, and the disreputable freedom I sought helped make me a writer.

Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.

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.

The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.

I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.

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

You can't save the rhinos and you can't preserve a culture. I'm very pessimistic. Once it's gone, it's over.

All travel is circular. I had been jerked through Asia, making a parabola on one of the planet's hemispheres. After all, the grand tour is just the inspired man's way of heading home.

Travel is an attitude, a state of mind. It is not residence, it is motion.

Railways are irresistible bazaars, snaking along perfectly level no matter what the landscape, improving your mood with speed, and never upsetting your drink.

Tibet has a very proud people but it's culturally gone and overrun ever since the Chinese took over. It's like saving the rhino. When a species is endangered, it's gone.

Don't overestimate your emotions and underestimate your intelligence.

As you look up to see the stars, keep watching the ground with your feet.

Sometimes or most of the time, we need to remind ourselves that we're not a KID anymore.

The stars are dead, but their memories fill the sky

I don't like to just have a repetitive life where I do the same thing over and over. I love to be able to learn something new, explore something new.

Corruption is Africa's greatest problem. Not poverty. Not lack of riches. Not racism.

Let's bring back grandmothers! A real family consists of three generations. It's time Americans stopped worrying about interference and being a burden on the children and regrouped under one roof.

Well, I get under people's skins. It's a gift I have, what can I say?

I have not been so much pushed by winds as pulled forward by the force of my decisions.

Stay here, baby … Trust me, okay? Don’t run.