Don Quixotes Delusions is an excellent read – far better than my own forthcoming travel book, Walking Backwards Across Tuscany. – Arthur Smith
The Romantic poets were the prototype ramblers, and Ive often found myself following in their footsteps – although perhaps not all of their footsteps since a typical walk for Samuel T. Coleridge might last two days and cover 145km. – Arthur Smith
Ive noticed that my resolutions involve me not doing stuff that I wasnt going to do anyway so heres something more positive. Im going to retrain as a Latin teacher in a provincial public school. – Arthur Smith
The history of the relationship between comedy and swimming is short indeed. Of course it is always funny when someone falls into water, but thats about it. – Arthur Smith
Occasionally I find a travel book that is both illuminating and entertaining, where vivid writing and research replace self-indulgence and sloppy prose. – Arthur Smith
Travel books are, by and large, boring. They lodge uncomfortably between fact, fiction and autobiography. – Arthur Smith
Ninety-eight per cent of laughter is nothing to do with jokes, which do not deserve to bear the weight of all the funny stuff in the world. – Arthur Smith
It is more interesting to be compared to someone famous, because it lets you gauge what perceptions people have about your appearance. – Arthur Smith
Reading the play at home, however fulfilling, can never be the vivacious experience that Shakespeare intended. – Arthur Smith
I am 54 and age is slowly writing itself on my face. – Arthur Smith
It was Julie Burchill who decreed that, beyond a certain age, a man should not be seen in a leather jacket. – Arthur Smith
