Notes From A Small Island Quotes
"It was rather wonderful having an English town all to myself."
"I was socially and sartorially ill-suited for such an establishment."
"I lay for a long time listening to the sea washing over the shingle below."
"I sat there for some time, a young man with more on his mind than in it."
"The cafe was outstanding - lively and steamy and deliciously warm."
"Dover was not vastly improved by daylight, but I liked it."
"I tried to think of a succinct explanation, but the man was scanning the sky again."
"I was astonished to find out what it was; for three days I'd been fiddling with the window."
"I quietly locked the door, drew shut the curtains and had a pee in the sink."
"The simplest transactions were a mystery to me."
"And everyone ate the way I did. This was truly exciting."
"I had never had tea with milk in it before or a biscuit of such rocklike cheerlessness."
"I would never have to work with Vince again."
"What a wonderful world Fleet Street then was and how thrilled I was to be part of it."
"London remains a vast and exhilarating mystery to me."
"It has more history, finer parks, a livelier and more varied press, better theatres, more numerous orchestras and museums than any other large city in the world."
"Take away Heathrow Airport, the weather, and it would be nearly perfect."
"Motorized vehicles are ugly and dirty and they bring out the worst in people."
"The streets of Windsor were shiny with rain and unseasonally dark and wintry."
"I knew Windsor well because we used to shop there."
"Daniel's always puts me in mind of what Britain might have been like under Communism."
"They are great at pulling together, particularly in the face of adversity, for a perceived common good."
"They derive universal satisfaction from the sight of the rich and powerful brought low."
"Most of those above the age of twenty-five already dress like East Germans."
"I'm not saying that Britain would have been a happier, better place under Communism, merely that the British would have done it properly."
"It stretches over forty enchanted square miles and incorporates into its ancient fabric every manner of sylvan charm."
"You often see him and other members of the royal family in the park, speeding past in assorted vehicles."
"It must be the finest lawn in Britain, flat and flawlessly green and built on an heroic scale."
"Only that week, I had watched with open mouth an edition of Question Time."
"If you are going to have a system of hereditary privilege, then surely you have to take what comes your way."
"It astounds me how casual are the planning regulations in such a sensitive environment."
"And the British are so easy to please. It is the most extraordinary thing."
"I hadn't seen my own family in what might be called a social setting since about 1958."
"You could spend your life moving from stone circle to Roman settlement to ruined abbey and never see but a fraction of them."
"It was beautiful beyond words, one of those rare moments when life seems perfect."
"You could stand me on a beach till the end of time and never would it occur to me to try to make it into windows."
"It's your stick,' he said accusingly. 'They don't like sticks.'"
"Lulworth seemed the closest to this idealized image I had in my head."
"I have never seen such resplendent ineptitude in a restaurant."
"It's a funny thing. I dress myself most days without incident, but give me a pair of waterproof trousers to put on and it's as if I've never stood unaided."
"Now imagine those drumming fingers are raindrops endlessly beating on your hood and that there's nothing you can do about it."
"The walking beyond Swyre Head was mostly along mercifully flat, if lofty, cliffs high above a cadaverous grey sea."
"The rain eased off and turned into an insidious drizzle - that special English kind of drizzle that hangs in the air and saps the spirit."
"Did you know that each time your father ejaculated he produced roughly 25 million spermatozoa?"
"For the tiniest moment in the span of eternity you have the miraculous privilege to exist."
"You have in this country the most comely, the most parklike, the most flawlessly composed countryside the world has ever known."
"Britain still has more landscape that looks like an illustration from a children's story book than any other country I know."
"You have only to cast a glance across a map or lose yourself in an index to see that you are in a place of infinite possibility."
"It's for cooking potatoes and tha'," she said.
"I must say, I never expected to find you here waiting for me."
"We were always clean and the house was spotless."
"It's a kind of Disneyland version of Jolly Olde England."
"The factories may be gone, there may be no work, but the Liverpudlians still have character and initiative."
"I walked down the hill on unfamiliar legs that seemed to snap out in front of me like whipped lengths of rope."
"Summoning as much dignity as I could... I went to the grand staircase and managed - I know not how - to fall up them."
"Outlook: Dry and warm, but cooler with some rain."
"Why should they speak the Queen's English? She's not their queen, after all."
"If you have never been to Durham, go at once. Take my car. It's wonderful."
"It costs £700,000 a year to maintain the cathedral... they would very much appreciate any spare money that visitors might give them."
"I'm no judge of these things, but the window at the choir end looked to me at least the equal of the more famous one at York."
"As I stood there, one of only a dozen or so visitors, a verger passed and issued a cheery hello."
"I unhesitatingly gave Durham my vote for best cathedral on planet Earth."
"What a wondrous place this was - crazy as fuck, of course, but adorable to the tiniest degree."
"Every other nation in the world could possibly have given us William Shakespeare, pork pies, Christopher Wren."
"Here is a country that fought and won a noble war, dismantled a mighty empire in a generally benign and enlightened way."
"The fact is that this is still the best place in the world for most things - to post a letter, go for a walk, watch television."
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. I like it here. I like it more than I can tell you."
"And then I turned from the gate and got in the car and knew without doubt that I would be back."