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Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson Quotes

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Famous Bill Bryson Quotes

“Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world, you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret.”

KnowsWorldWayLittlesLongTwoRealizingCommunitySecretFeetWalkingTenLimitsFellowsDistanceMilesScalesEnormousFiftyConceptionLong WayHikerSmall CommunitiesWalk In The WoodsWalks In The Woods
Author:Bill Bryson
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“Being a pessimist is just such a gloomy way of looking at things, so I have to hope for the best - life wouldn't be worth living if we didn't have hope. And I also do think that human beings often do do wonderful, correct, brilliant things. So, on balance, I'd like to be optimistic about the future.”

IfsThinkingWayHumansHuman BeingsWonderfulBalanceBrilliantOptimisticMy WayWorth LivingPessimistGloomyHaving HopeHoping For The BestBeing Optimistic
Author:Bill Bryson
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“Disassemble the cells of a sponge (by passing them through a sieve, for instance), then dump them into a solution, and they will find their way back together and build themselves into a sponge again. You can do this to them over and over, and they will doggedly reassemble because, like you and me and every other living thing, they have one overwhelming impulse: to continue to be.”

WayTogetherCan DoLike YouSolutionsPassingPassingsInstanceCellsImpulseOverwhelmingLiving ThingsBack TogetherDumpSponges
Author:Bill Bryson
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“It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect... It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players - more if they are moderately restless.”

IfsWayHumansLooksNamesSportsSidesInterestingBreakPlayerShareEffectsMealsEndeavorCricketInsectsRestlessSpectatorsLivelyCaloriesSide Effects
Author:Bill Bryson
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“If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here-and by 'we' I mean every living thing. To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. As humans we are doubly lucky, of course: We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp.”

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Book:A Short History of Nearly Everything
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“But I got a great deal else from the experience. I learned to pitch a tent and sleep beneath the stars. For a brief, proud period I was slender and fit. I gained a profound respect for the wilderness and nature and the benign dark power of woods. I understand now, in a way I never did before, the colossal scale of the world. I found patience and fortitude that I didn't know I had. I discovered an America that millions of people scarcely know exists. I made a friend. I came home.”

PeopleKnowsWorldWayMadeHomeAmericaFoundStarsDarkSleepDealsMillionsProudPeriodsFitProfoundWoodsScalesWildernessFortitudeTentsBenignColossalSlender
Author:Bill Bryson
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“And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?”

PeopleThinkingWayYearsEnoughNumbersHavensObjectsFoodPaperNobleOddPairsCaptureNeedlesIngeniousExtendingKnittingKitesDistressingGunpowderChinese FoodChopsticksKnitting Needles
Book:Notes From A Small Island: Journey Through Britain
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“Australians are very unfair in this way. They spend half of any conversation insisting that the country's dangers are vastly overrated and that there's nothing to worry about, and the other half telling you how six months ago their Uncle Bob was driving to Mudgee when a tiger snake slid out from under the dashboard and bit him on the groin, but that it's okay now because he's off the life support machine and they've discovered he can communicate with eye blinks.”

WayCountryEyeBitsHalfWorrySupportDangerMonthsConversationSixOkayMachinesCommunicateDrivingBobUnfairUnclesTigersSnakesSix MonthsOther HalfBlinkOverratedInsistingDashboards
Author:Bill Bryson
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“So, if people didn’t settle down to take up farming, why then did they embark on this entirely new way of living? We have no idea – or actually, we have lots of ideas, but we don’t know if any of them are right. According to Felipe Fernández-Armesto, at least thirty-eight theories have been put forward to explain why people took to living in communities: that they were driven to it by climatic change, or by a wish to stay near their dead, or by a powerful desire to brew and drink beer, which could only be indulged by staying in one place.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWayHas BeensIdeasDesireWishCommunityPowerfulTheoryDrinkEightDrivenBeerNo IdeaSettlingThirtyStayingNew WaysFarmingSettling DownFernsThirty Eight
Author:Bill Bryson
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“Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numberous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms-up to a billion for each of us, it has been suggested-probably once belonged to Shakespeare. A billion more each came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you care to name.”

WayHas BeensCareNamesStarsNumbersMillionsFiguresBecomingHistoricalBillionsSignificantAtomsOrganismsRecycledSignificant NumbersHistorical FigureBecoming You
Author:Bill Bryson
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“You can always tell a Midwestern couple in Europe because they will be standing on a traffic island in the middle of a busy intersection looking at a windblown map and arguing over which way is west. European cities, with their wandering streets and undisciplined alleys, drive Midwesterners practically insane.”

WayCitiesStreetsMiddleCoupleEuropeStandingWestBusyArguingInsaneWanderIslandsMapsTrafficAlleysIntersectionsUndisciplinedMidwesterners
Book:The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-town America
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