140 Quotes by Michael Palin

Contrary to what the politicians and religious leaders would like us to believe, the world won’t be made safer by creating barriers between people.

If I am seen as successful, it’s all the more reason not to change – not to lose track of friends, not to be driven everywhere, not to go and get away from the world. That, to me, is real success: enjoying what you do, but being the same person.

I mistrust total competence. I’ve always felt life is a series of small disasters we try to get through.

All I ask of food is that it doesn’t harm me.

I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flowers. I put on women’s clothing and hang around in bars.

From my travels around the world I have seen how much damage and pollution is done by the careless disposal of waste. It is also evident that we in the West produce far more and throw away far more than the developing world, almost without thinking.

I’m aware that, if you feel down, it can be strangely unrelated to circumstances around you. That’s just the way life is.

I don’t see why it should be remarkable that you can acquire a reputation for fairness and decency. Those are qualities shared by so many people. And the great majority of people I meet are decent people, just trying to navigate their way through the world without causing too much trouble.

George Harrison’s passing was really sad, but it does make the afterlife seem much more attractive.