Quotes from Terry Jones

Medieval learning was really advanced.

I spent my earliest years in Colwyn Bay in north Wales with my mother and grandmother, while my father was stationed with the RAF in India.

The Romans did not see [the tale of Romulus, Remus and the she-wolf] as a charming story; they meant to show that they had imbibed wolfish appetites and ferocity with their mother's milk.

You know, I've never thought of myself as a comedian.

I'm a good cook; one of my specialities is reindeer and potato pie.

I like fantasy.

Fatherhood is wonderful.

It doesn't worry me what anyone says, except when publicity hurts others.

Some people are passionate about aisles, others about window seats.

I've been very lucky to have been able to act, write and direct and not have to choose just the one thing.

I'd always thought that if Python was going to go on at all, it'd be nice to get into storylines.

I'd like something that peels potatoes really quickly - that would be wonderful.

We are, of course, now against any other group burning Qurans. We would right now ask no one to burn Qurans. We are absolutely strong on that. It is not the time to do it.

I don't think people who have children are acting selfishly or unselfishly. Having a child who'll be loved, to parents who love each other, is the important thing.

I've never been good at improvising.

It's a great time to book vacation travel for the winter, .. After the first of the year, airplanes are empty, resorts are empty, and they are very excited to get early bookings.

he was able to explain to the clergy that 'Women are: "Satan's bait, poison for men's souls".

The Crusaders had not only taken into themselves the notion that they would become better people through violence; they also projected onto the victims of their violence their own inner demons. This is probably the most obvious and long-lasting heritage of the crusade. We still do it.

was the association of Celtic women with barbarism that persuaded the Senate to decree in AD 40 that prostitutes should make their hair blonde – the colour the Romans associated

Labour had become expensive and your average lord could now make more money out of sheep than he could out of his peasants. There was more wool on sheep, for a start, and you could also eat them – which is possible with peasants but socially taboo – so the lords started to throw the expensive, troublesome and uneatable peasants off their land and replace them with sheep.

The statue at Alesia, over 20 feet tall, was erected in 1865 at the commission of Napoleon III, and the face appears to be modelled on his own. It is inscribed with Caesar's 'quotation' from Vercingetorix, slightly adapted – 'Gaul united, Forming a single nation, Inspired by a shared spirit, Can defy the world'. In 1870 Napoleon III led France to defeat by Germany.

It was a tradition for any new emperor to kick-start his reign with a little military adventure – and Trajan especially wasn't going to be left out. Kicking ass on the frontiers helped an emperor to stamp his authority on the Empire, built his reputation and kept the army busy. Besides, Trajan took 'delight in war'.19 Decebalus

This is where, in a cheap novel, the couple, confronted by imminent oblivion, would suddenly make passionate love. It was a pity Nettie was now as old as she was.

Brewing was often viewed as an appropriate activity for widows, who found it hard to farm land.