Quotes from Danny Wallace

Probably some of the best things that have ever happened to you in life, happened because you said yes to something. Otherwise things just sort of stay the same.

I think we all have those moments at one point or other in our lives... when we see someone and immediately imagine a whole universe around them. A relationship, a future, and all based on just a second which might not even have been in their company. It's amazing how quickly the human mind can come up with this stuff.

I think if you've got a good idea it will stand out in one of the different mediums. For example, something might happen to me today and it could be something to talk about tomorrow on the radio, or I can write about it, or perhaps it will be best suited to telly.

I sat down on the sofa, surrounded by years of coffee rings and sandwich stains. If the police ever did a DNA test on this sofa, it would be ninety per cent disappointment.

Anonymity is an abused privilege, abused most by people who mistake vitriol for wisdom and cynicism for wit.

Probably some of the best things that have ever happened to you in life, happened because you said yes to something. Otherwise things just sort of stay the same.

maybe sometimes it's riskier not to take a risk. Sometimes all you're guaranteeing is that things will stay the same.

Take the stupidest thing you've ever done. At least it's done. It's over. It's gone. We can all learn from our mistakes and heal and move on. But it's harder to learn or heal or move on from something that hasn't happened; something we don't know and is therefore indefinable; something which could very easily have been the best thing in our lives, if only we'd taken the plunge, if only we'd held our breath and stood up and done it, if only we'd said yes.

The closed mind is a disease. You need to have an open mind; otherwise life will just pass you by.

Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.

But the happiest people are the ones who understand that good things occur when one allows them to.

I was saying yes because when you're in love, the world is full of possibilities, and when you're in love, you want to take every single one of them.

At first I assumed he was a Mexican, but slowly began to realise that a real Mexican probably wouldn't be wearing a sombrero in a London nightclub. And he'd probably have a real moustache, not a stick-on one. A Mexican with a stick-on moustache would be like a Super-Mexican, because he'd have two moustaches, and that'd be cool, because a Super-Mexican could probably use his poncho as a cape, and then I realised I was saying all this to the man's face.

The only time you have no opportunities is when you decide to stop taking them.

I had it all planned. Or, not planned exactly, but I'd planned to make plans. Plans were very much part of my plan.

If I was going to act irresponsibly, the least I could do was be responsible for it.

The sad thing is, I was discovering that you almost have to make a joke of being good to strangers. Up and down the country, these people doing their good deeds were doubtless being seen as slightly eccentric, when in reality and in an ideal world they should be deemed the most normal people of all.

And as I looked at the star, I realised what millions of other people have realised when looking at stars. We're tiny. We don't matter. We're here for a second and then gone the next. We're a sneeze in the life of the universe.

What a terrible thing, I thought, to let a moment go.

The fact is saying yes hadn't been a pointless exercise at all. It had been point ful . It had the power to change lives and set people free... It had the power of adventure. Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.

I recommend keeping a diary. Diaries are cool.

The people around you are you. They share your history. They can even write it with you. And when you lose one, there's no doubt you lose some of yourself, however they're lost.

And before any Christian readers get all offended - relax. I'm not saying that I'm the new Jesus. I'm just saying there's a very good chance that I might be.

Anonymity is an abused privilege, abused most by people who mistake vitriol for wisdom and cynicism for wit.