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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

-Michael Palin

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From My Travels Around

Michael Palin

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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

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[there] Are People Who Make A Complete And Utter Mockery Of 'democracy' And 'equality' - They're The Casualties Of The Primitive Rules Of Competition Which Run Our Society, And The Welfare State Just Keeps Them Alive. That's All.

I Can Be Me, And People Seem Quite Happy With That.

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.

I Would Love To Go To Iran. The Island Of Madagascar, Everyone Says Is Pretty Exotic, Or The Wonderful Namibian Desert.

John Hall, My Geography Teacher At School Inspired Me To A Lifelong Interest In Geography And A Curiosity About Our World Which Has Stayed With Me Through My Life. Geography Is A Living, Breathing Subject, Constantly Adapting Itself To Change. It Is Dynamic And Relevant. For Me Geography Is A Great Adventure With A Purpose.

I've Never Particularly Liked Travelling With Large Groups Or Being Told Where To Go By Somebody Else. I Prefer To Find Out For Myself.

The Human Race Should Just Slow Down And Think About What It Is Doing.

In The Absence Of Fear There Is Little Faith.

'nice' Means Nothing. Is It Someone Who Doesn't Swear And Shout? I Swear And Shout. 'nice' Sounds Ineffectual.

I'd Got Over Playing A Character. People Accepted Who I Was, And If I Was Incompetent And Useless, They Felt Quite Endeared To Me.

I Want People To Know There Is More To Somalia Than Looting And Piracy.

When I'm Travelling, I Always Take My Little Notebook And Scribble Things Down As I Watch Them; I'm Very Much Geared To Everything That's Happening. Whereas, The Diary I Keep Is Just About A Record Of A Day I've Spent. When I'm Filming, I'm Looking Quite Intensely At Everything I See And Trying To Get My Own Eye On What We're Going Through.

People Are Still Crazy About Python After Twenty-five Years, Which I Find Hard To Believe.

I Am Very Cautious Of People Who Are Absolutely Right, Especially When They Are Vehemently So.

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.

Listen -- Strange Women Lying In Ponds Distributing Swords Is No Basis For A System Of Government. Supreme Executive Power Derives From A Mandate From The Masses, Not From Some Farcical Aquatic Ceremony.

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 Cut Down Trees, I Skip And Jump, I Like To Press Wild Flowers. I Put On Women's Clothing And Hang Around In Bars.

I Am Restless. I Don't Mind Leaving This Comfortable, Static Life. I Could Live A Year On My Own In A Remote Village.

People Look For Patterns In Everything. It's What Keeps Us Sane, I Suppose. I Struggle To See Any Patterns In My Life. I Think I Can Understand Depression A Bit Because Of My Sister. My Own Feelings Of ... I'm Aware That, If You Feel Down, It Can Be Strangely Unrelated To Circumstances Around You. That's Just The Way Life Is.

All I Ask Of Food Is That It Doesn't Harm Me.

I Have Been Unusually Blessed In That I've Been Allowed To Pursue Two Strands Of A Career That Both Delight Me And Seem To Please The Public.

I Think Some Of The Best Modern Writing Comes Now From Travellers.

You Don't Ask People About The Immigration Policies Of The U.k. Or Their Country's Agricultural Policy. Instead, You Talk To Them About The Meal They're Eating Or Their Family, And From That You Get The Sense Of Another Human Being, Someone We Can All Relate To.

I Remember Queuing Around The Block In Sheffield When I Was Growing Up. At That Time, Going To The Cinema Was Really Something Special - There Was Something About The Style Of The Real Thing That Is Immeasurable Nicer Than Multiplexes.

I Always Wanted To Be An Explorer, But - It Seemed I Was Doomed To Be Nothing More Than A Very Silly Person.

There Are Many Ways Of Seeing The World. You Can Hang Upside Down From A Meteor, Volunteer To Be The Fourth Stage Of A Three-stage Rocket, Or Simply Get In A Balloon And Keep Going. But If It's Sheer, Unadulterated Discomfort You're Looking For, Just Stay On Land.

Now, What Sort Of Person Would Write A Scene Where A Young Man Stumbles Upon A Castle Full Only Of Beautiful Young Women? Answer: Me!

My Parents Have Been Married Forty-two Years. I Wonder How Many Of Those Were Happy.

I Enjoy Writing, I Enjoy My House, My Family And, More Than Anything I Enjoy The Feeling Of Seeing Each Day Used To The Full To Actually Produce Something. The End.

Ronnie Barker Was A Straightforward Man Who Had This Extraordinary Ability To Make The Nation Laugh

I Know That We Shall Meet Problems Along The Way, But I'd Far Rather See For Myself What's Going On In The World Outside, Than Rely On Newspapers, Television, Politicians And Religious Leaders To Tell Me What I Should Be Thinking.

Somewhere, A Long Way Away, People Are Doing Sensible Things Like Mowing Lawns And Digging Gardens.

The Trouble With Travelling Back Later On Is That You Can Never Repeat The Same Experience.

As I Work In The Afternoon On Committing To Paper Some Of My Morning's Thoughts, I Find Myself Just About To Close On The Knotty Question Of Whether Or Not I Believe In God. In Fact I Am About To Type, 'i Do Not Believe In God', When The Sky Goes Black As Ink, There Is A Thunderclap And A Huge Crash Of Thunder And A Downpour Of Epic Proportions. I Never Do Complete The Sentence.

I Will Die, But Not Retire.

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My Marriage Has Worked Because I Am Not Around Much.

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.

The Need To Eat, Sleep And Dry Out Plays Havoc With Your Sense Of Wonder.

I Saw Novelists As Being Admirable People And I Thought... I Thought... Maybe, One Day, I Could Be One Of Them.

Night Falls Over Machu Picchu To The Sound Of Abba's 'dancing Queen'.

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I Am Certainly More Interested In Interviewing Than Being Interviewed. Sometimes You Find Yourself Attacked From The Start.

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If Atheists Are Deaf To The Word Of God, Then Theists Are Blind To The Ways Of Man.

First Shalt Thou Take Out The Holy Pin. Then Shalt Thou Count To Three, No More-no Less. Three Shall Be The Number Thou Shalt Count, And The Number Of The Counting Shall Be Three. Four Shalt Thou Not Count, Neither Count Thou Two, Excepting That Thou Then Proceed To Three. Five Is Right Out. Once The Number Three, Being The Third Number, Be Reached, Then Lobbest Thou Thy Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch Towards Thy Foe, Who, Being Naughty In My Sight, Shall Snuff It.

I've Been Lucky To Have Made A Number Of Travel Programmes With The Bbc, The Object Being To See Places Off The Beaten Track. As A Result, I've Often Had A Guide Who's Been Able To Show Me Things That You Wouldn't See With A Tour Group.

It Was A Strange Feeling Going Into A Church I Did Not Know For A Service That I Did Not Really Believe In, But Once Inside I Couldn't Help A Feeling Of Warmth And Security. Outside There Were Wars And Road Accidents And Murders, Striptease Clubs And Battered Babies And Frayed Tempers And Unhappy Marriages And People Contemplating Suicide And Bad Jokes, But Once In St. Martin's There Was Peace. Surely People Go To Church Not To Involve Themselves In The World's Problems But To Escape From Them.

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