Travel books are, by and large, boring. They lodge uncomfortably between fact, fiction and autobiography.
– Arthur Smith
The Romantic poets were the prototype ramblers, and I've 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
The history of the relationship between comedy and swimming is short indeed. Of course it is always funny when someone falls into water, but that's about it.
– Arthur Smith
Reading the play at home, however fulfilling, can never be the vivacious experience that Shakespeare intended.
– 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
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 was Julie Burchill who decreed that, beyond a certain age, a man should not be seen in a leather jacket.
– 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
I've noticed that my resolutions involve me not doing stuff that I wasn't going to do anyway so here's something more positive. I'm going to retrain as a Latin teacher in a provincial public school.
– Arthur Smith
I am 54 and age is slowly writing itself on my face.
– Arthur Smith
Don Quixote's 'Delusions' is an excellent read - far better than my own forthcoming travel book, 'Walking Backwards Across Tuscany.'