803 Quotes by Bill Bryson

The remarkable position in which we find ourselves is that we don't actually know what we actually know.

There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to split an infinitive, any more than we should forsake instant coffee and air travel because they weren't available to the Romans.

[The Royal Society] is quite simply the voice of science in Britain. It is intellectually rigorous, not afraid to be outspoken on controversial issues such as climate change, but it is not aggressively secular either, insisting on a single view of the world. In fact, there are plenty of eminent scientists - Robert Winston, for instance - who are also men of faith.

A cough so robust that I tapped into two new seams of phlegm.

It is unthinkable to have a British countryside that doesn't have actual functioning farmers riding tractors, cows in fields, things like that.

Traveling is more fun - hell, life is more fun - if you can treat it as a series of impulses.

Think of a single problem confronting the world today. Disease, poverty, global warming... If the problem is going to be solved, it is science that is going to solve it. Scientists tend to be unappreciated in the world at large, but you can hardly overstate the importance of the work they do. If anyone ever cures cancer, it will be a guy with a science degree. Or a woman with a science degree.

There is the odd exception, like Albert Einstein, but as a breed, scientists tend not be very good at presenting themselves.

There is something about the momentum of travel that makes you want to just keep moving, to never stop.