Michael Palin Life Quotations

I've never had a particular skill. I can't cook, dance, play an instrument, speak a foreign language. This used to worry me. I'd think, when I'm grown up, at 18, then I made it 21, it will be clear what role I should have in life. It never happened. I never signed on the dotted line as the sort of adult my father wanted.

I think you learn a lot about a country from its art. To me, it's part of the drama of life. It teaches you that there are places, moments and incidents in other cultures that genuinely have a life of their own.

When I read profiles of myself, I sometimes think: 'I have spent my whole life struggling to understand my motivations and impulses, and I've never quite sorted them out.'

The kids growing up is a separate strand to your life. However bad a day you've had, that's the most important thing, and you have to remember that.

There was a mixture there and it was a rather pleasant mixture, and I think it helped him a lot in the last few years, that he had his spirituality, ... Death held no terrors for George whatsoever, and he still got a lot out of life and found the humor was there right up to when the last time I saw him, which was in August.

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

It's not an easy option. The essence of travel is letting go of habit and prejudice and relishing the unfamiliar. Food you've never eaten before, a language you've never spoken before, religion that mystifies, customs that confuse, politics that perplex, all question everyday assumptions about how you live your life.

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