Explore Quotes by Bill Bryson

In any area of human endeavour, there is going to be mediocrity. You're going to find people who get money that they shouldn't get.

Personally, I've never been attracted to danger. It's not my sort of thing. I am more attracted to pubs and cafes. The known, safe and comfortable world.

I'm definitely an American, because I grew up here. But I've lived very happily in Britain.

Nobody gets excited about the future at all, ever. The future is something we find depressing and worrisome.

I like to do books in which a lot of the research and the writing and the thinking revolves around something American.

I painted myself into a corner by writing a whole book on this one period. The summer of 1927 came to an end, but nothing else did - all of these peoples' lives went on.

I sometimes think I cannot write another passage about a disappointing meal ever again, because I've done it so many times.

Much as I resented having to grow up in Des Moines, it gave me a real appreciation for every place in the world that's not Des Moines.

I want things to be better all the time. And I tend to get angry about that. Books are an opportunity to vent.

The basic challenge of any book is you know you're going to be working on it for three or four years or more. So you want to have a subject that will keep you engaged.

The world at night, for much of history, was a very dark place indeed.

I would make a genuinely terrible guide. I can't remember things. I would get half way through telling a story or explaining something and I would get distracted. Oh, and I have absolutely no sense of direction at all.

I have made a career of bumbling around places, stumbling on landmarks and generally being quite haphazard and shambolic about the way I go about things.

I often feel I'm a disappointment to people because they expect me to be the guy in the books. When I sit next to someone at a dinner party I can see they expect me to be quick and witty, and I'm not at all.

You don't need a science degree to understand about science. You just need to think about it.

I've been wanting to do a book about baseball for the longest time, and nobody will let me do it. It's the one thing from America I really miss.

Scientists tend to be unappreciated in the world at large, but you can hardly overstate the importance of the work they do.

When you tell an Iowan a joke, you can see a kind of race going on between his brain and his expression.

In 1927, if you were stuck with idle time, reading is what you did. It's no accident that the 'Book-of-the-Month Club' and 'The Literary Guild' were founded in that period as well as a lot of magazines, like 'Reader's Digest,' 'Time,' and 'The New Yorker.'

One of the brilliant things about Britain is the way you've managed to save old things but to keep using them - that they've not just become museums the way they do in the United States.

Open your refrigerator door, and you summon forth more light than the total amount enjoyed by most households in the 18th century. The world at night, for much of history, was a very dark place indeed.