Quotes from Michael Palin

People are still crazy about Python after twenty-five years, which I find hard to believe.

My marriage has worked because I am not around much.

I don't seek discomfort. But, very often, you realise that what you fear is actually quite ephemeral; something's different, something's unfamiliar; therefore, it must be worse.

I do have high standards. I look at everything I have done and think, 'Why wasn't that better?' Part of my motivation is from crippling self-doubt - I have got to prove myself wrong.

Now, what sort of person would write a scene where a young man stumbles upon a castle full only of beautiful young women? Answer: ME!

I saw novelists as being admirable people and I thought... I thought... maybe, one day, I could be one of them.

People look for patterns in everything. It's what keeps us sane, I suppose. I struggle to see any patterns in my life. I think I can understand depression a bit because of my sister. My own feelings of... I'm aware that, if you feel down, it can be strangely unrelated to circumstances around you. That's just the way life is.

Geography prepares for the world of work - geographers, with their skills of analysis are highly employable!

The kids growing up is a separate strand to your life. However bad a day you've had, that's the most important thing, and you have to remember that.

I'd got over playing a character. People accepted who I was, and if I was incompetent and useless, they felt quite endeared to me.

Something about John Cleese was always very unsettled, I felt. There was always something else he wanted to do. He seemed constantly driven by this sense that there was a nirvana somewhere; some unique place where mind, body and soul would be utterly satisfied.

I'm not good at confrontation. I know my strengths. I like company. And I am not a great arguer... I do find it much easier talking to people I like about things we both like.

When I read profiles of myself, I sometimes think: 'I have spent my whole life struggling to understand my motivations and impulses, and I've never quite sorted them out.'

I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.

People say the most stupid things on the spur of the moment that they then have to retract.

I got my first lifetime achievement award years ago, and I was very excited, but then I got a sense of: Well, can one get a second lifetime award?

All I ask of food is that it doesn't harm me.

Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future

Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.

I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller.

The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience.

You can't get a suit of armour and a rubber chicken just like that. You have to plan ahead.

Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life

I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.