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Bill Bryson

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Famous Bill Bryson Quotes

“This was 1990, the year that communism died in Europe and it seemed strange to me that in all the words that were written about the fall of the iron curtain, nobody anywhere lamented that it was the end of a noble experiment. I know that communism never worked and I would have disliked living under it myself but none the less it seems that there was a kind of sadness in the thought that the only economic system that appeared to work was one based on self interest and greed.”

KnowsYearsKindEndsSelfSeemsFallInterestWrittenSadnessEconomicStrangeEuropeDiedGreedNobleExperimentsCommunismIronCurtainsSelf InterestEconomic SystemsIron Curtain
Author:Bill Bryson
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“If you believe in god, it's much more fantastic to believe that he created this universe billions of years ago and set in motion this long train of activities that eventually resulted in us. I think that's so much more satisfying, more thrilling, than the idea that it was all done in seven days.”

IfsThinkingYearsBelieveLongIdeasDoneUniverseActivityYears AgoTrainSevenBillionsFantasticBelieve In GodSatisfyingThrillingIf You BelieveSeven Days
Author:Bill Bryson
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“But that's the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don't want to know what people are talking about. I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsWantYearsI CanCountryWholeInterestingExistenceTalkingWonderFiveGreaterStreetsTravelGloryConcernedCrossesSeriesIgnorantWanderMemorableFive YearsWhere You AreTravel WritingChildlikeGreat TravelFive Year OldsLife Is An AdventureLife AdventureWant To TravelChildlike WonderForeign Travel
Book:Neither here nor there: travels in Europe
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“Your pillow alone may be home to 40 million bed mites. (To them your head is just one large oily bon-bon). And don't think a clean pillow-case will make a difference... Indeed, if your pillow is six years old--which is apparently about the average age for a pillow--it has been estimated that one-tenth of its weight will be made up of sloughed skin, living mites, dead mites and mite dung.”

IfsThinkingYearsMayHas BeensMadeHomeAgeDifferencesMillionsCasesBedSixSkinsWeightCleanAverageJust OneMaking A DifferencePillowSix Year Olds
Author:Bill Bryson
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“There'd never been a more advantageous time to be a criminal in America than during the 13 years of Prohibition. At a stroke, the American government closed down the fifth largest industry in the United States - alcohol production - and just handed it to criminals - a pretty remarkable thing to do.”

YearsStatesGovernmentAmericaUnitedUnited StatesIndustryProductionsAlcoholCriminalsThings To DoRemarkableStrokesFifthProhibitionAmerican Government
Author:Bill Bryson
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“We are so used to the notion of our own inevitability as life's dominant species that it is hard to grasp that we are here only because of timely extraterrestrial bangs and other random flukes. The one thing we have in common with all other living things is that for nearly four billions years our ancestors have managed to slip through a series of closing doors every time we needed them to.”

YearsHardUsedCommonFourDoorsOne ThingNeededSeriesSpeciesNotionBillionsSlipsAncestorDominantBangsLiving ThingsClosingInevitabilityTimelyExtraterrestrialFlukesClosing Doors
Book:A Short History of Nearly Everything
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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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“Every living thing is an elaboration of a single original plan. As humans we are mere increments - each of us a musty archive of adjustments, adaptations, modifications and providential tinkerings stretching back to 3,8 billion years. Remarkably we are even quite closely related to fruit and vegetables. About half the chemical functions that take place in a banana are fundamentally the same as the chemical functions that place in you. It cannot be said too often: all life is one. That is, and I suspect will ever prove to be, the most profound true statement there is.”

YearsHumansSaidLife IsHalfPlansProveFunctionOriginalsMereProfoundFruitBillionsStatementsRelatedSuspectsChemicalsVegetablesAdaptationLiving ThingsAdjustmentStretchingBananasArchivesModificationFruits And VegetablesTinkering
Author:Bill Bryson
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