Michael Palin Quotes & Sayings

“One of the most important days of my life was when I learned to ride a bicycle.”

“I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller.”

“I do have high standards. I look at everything I have done and think, 'Why wasn't that better?' Part of my motivation is from crippling self-doubt - I have got to prove myself wrong.”

“I am restless. I don't mind leaving this comfortable, static life. I could live a year on my own in a remote village.”

“The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience.”

“I wanted to be an explorer, but gradually found the world had been explored and that there was nowhere left, really. Once they climbed Everest in 1953, when I was 10 years old, I thought, 'Well, that's pretty much it now.' But the idea of travelling and exploring and adventure was very strong.”

“I want people to know there is more to Somalia than looting and piracy.”

“There is nothing better than playing a scene with John Cleese or Maggie Smith. It's electric. But I don't think I'm the sort of person who needs to have an outer ego in order to produce something. I realised that through the travel programmes.”

“I always wanted to be an explorer, but - it seemed I was doomed to be nothing more than a very silly person.”

“Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.”