The moment that changed me for ever was the moment my first child was born. I was happy, filled with hope, and thought, 'Now I understand the whole point of work, of life, of love.

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.

For what reasons would you waste your time on earth?

Men's evil manners live in brass

Artists, like criminals, are dependent on a jury.

If we could but paint with the hand as we see with the eye!

STORY, n. A narrative, commonly untrue. The truth of the stories here following has, however, not been successfully impeached.

Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.

A poor man who eats too much, as contradistinguished from a gourmand, who is a rich man who ''lives well.''

The more certain our knowledge the less we know.

I wrote 'The Blue Sweater' to inspire more people to become engaged in working to solve the problems of global poverty.