Bill Bryson Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“I'm a great believer that you had to do everything you've done to have got to where you are.”

“I often feel I'm a disappointment to people because they expect me to be the guy in the books. When I sit next to someone at a dinner party I can see they expect me to be quick and witty, and I'm not at all.”

“If you go out on the Appalachian Trail, you have to bring so much more equipment - a tent, sleeping bag - but if you go hiking in England, or Europe, generally, towns and villages are near enough together at the end of the day you can always go to a nice little inn and have a hot bath and something to drink.”

“You don't have to know anything about baseball to respond to Babe Ruth because he's just this magnificent human being. And a really good story because he was this kid who grew up essentially as an orphan, you know, had a tough life, and then he became the most successful baseball player ever. But he was also a really good guy.”

“Personally, I've never been attracted to danger. It's not my sort of thing. I am more attracted to pubs and cafes. The known, safe and comfortable world.”

“Coming back to your native land after an absence of many years is a surprisingly unsettling business, a little like waking from a long coma. Time, you discover, has wrought changes that leave you feeling mildly foolish and out of touch.”

“There are things you just can't do in life. You can't beat the phone company, you can't make a waiter see you until he's ready to see you, and you can't go home again.”

“Boston's freeway system is insane. It was clearly designed by a person who had spent his childhood crashing toy trains.”

“I don't know whether I'm misanthropic. It seems to me I'm constantly disappointed. I'm very easily disappointed.”

“In any area of human endeavour, there is going to be mediocrity. You're going to find people who get money that they shouldn't get.”