Today is the anniversary of my husband’s death, " Maria announced. It was a dramatic statement, but the occasion seemed to demand it. "And I am going to leave.

Maria didn’t fear the sea but, as taught by her father, she respected its power. In her experience the ocean had no intent to drown travellers.

I pride myself on making my own decisions, sir, " she said. "I do not welcome gentlemen making them for me.

The jungle is alive. It’s dangerous as a living nightmare and brimful of hostility.

The smell of roasting meat rose from the street stalls in a sizzle and a fiddle player begged for coin as he rasped a haunting melody. Life could not be more perfect.

A journey is an achievement, Maria, just as much as a mathematical proof.

She enjoyed the sights and sounds of the dockside – ports were places of freedom.

There was something about Maria Graham that you could believe in – a slice of home. If not unique in her travelling, she was at least extraordinary.

GOD can turn every curse into a blessings.

Intolerance breeds hatred. Hatred creates divisions. Divisions destroy common grounds.

Yet nature cannot be contravened, but preserves a fixed and immutable order.

Never ask advice from someone who has something at stake or something to lose from your decision. The more objective the person is the greater value you should place on the input.

Since I will be no one's slave, I will be no one's master.

Each man has his own music bubbling up inside him.

history ... a sort of immortality turned upside down. Her life stretched backwards through ten centuries.

Sooner or later we'll be looking back on everything and we'll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening

[On public events attended by royalty:] It was the usual 'zoo tea.' You know, we eat - the others watch.

There are at least two distinct selves, the public and regal self, the private and human.