“He had a curiously stunted sense of humor and loved practical jokes that veered dangerously close to cruelty. Once on a hot… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
He had the sort of face that makes you realize God does have a sense of humor. — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Even Scientific American entered the fray with an article proposing that the person portrayed in the famous Martin Droeshout engraving might actually… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively;… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“It’s a bit burned,” my mother would say apologetically at every meal, presenting you with a piece of meat that looked like… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“From that original colony sprang seven names that still feature on the landscape: Roanoke (which has the distinction of being the first… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Perhaps the most irrational fashion act of all was the male habit for 150 years of wearing wigs. Samuel Pepys, as with… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Considerable thought was given in early Congresses to the possibility of renaming the country. From the start, many people recognized that United… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“I know a man who drives 600 yards to work. I know a woman who gets in her car to go a… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Because of social strictures against even the mildest swearing, America developed a particularly rich crop of euphemistic expletives - darn, durn, goldurn,… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Is that dog shit on the bottom of your shoe?’ I sat up a fraction. ‘What?’ ‘Is that dog shit on the… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“By the 1920s if you wanted to work behind a lunch counter you needed to know that 'Noah's boy' was a slice… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“People don't talk like this, theytalklikethis. Syllables, words, sentences run together like a watercolor left in the rain. To understand what anyone… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Of course, you’ll have to fly to the refugee camp at Dadaab,” Will observed thoughtfully at one point. He glanced at me.… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“More recently, during a debate in the House of Lords in 1978 one of the members said: "If there is a more… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Mr. Schlubb, the pear-shaped PE teacher, sent us all out to run half a dozen laps around a preposterously enormous cinder track.… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Mrs Loudon was even more successful than her husband thanks to a single work, Practical Instructions in Gardening for Ladies, published in… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“I don’t know why religious zealots have this compulsion to try to convert everyone who passes before them – I don’t go… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“I used to give X-ray vision a lot of thought because I couldn’t see how it could work. I mean, if you… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“In the morning a new man was behind the front desk. "And how did you enjoy your stay, Sir?" he asked smoothly.… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“The Super Constellations took three days to reach London [from Australia] and lacked the power or range to dodge most storms. When… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
Germans are flummoxed by humor, the Swiss have no concept of fun, the Spanish think there is nothing at all ridiculous about… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Looking for a supernova, therefore, was a little like standing on the observation platform of the Empire State Building with a telescope… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
Most big companies don't like you very much, except hotels, airlines and Microsoft, which don't like you at all. — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“But Welsh spellings are as nothing compared with Irish Gaelic, a language in which spelling and pronunciation give the impression of having been devised… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Pantaloons were often worn tight as paint and were not a great deal less revealing, particularly as they were worn without underwear. . .… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
If you go out on the Appalachian Trail, you have to bring so much more equipment - a tent, sleeping bag - but if… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“The dining table was a plain board called by that name. It was hung on the wall when not in use, and was perched… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“From almost nothing, France in four years built up an aircraft industry that employed nearly 200,000 people and produced some 70,000 planes. Britain built… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Every twenty minutes on the Appalachian Trail, Katz and I walked farther than the average American walks in a week. For 93 percent of… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“A diarist named George Templeton Strong recorded in the winter of 1866 that even with two furnaces alight and all the fireplaces blazing, he… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive and about 1 percent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
As a rule of thumb, I would submit that if you need to call your floss provider, for any reason, you are probably not… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
Nobody gets excited about the future at all, ever. The future is something we find depressing and worrisome. — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“What made this particularly interesting is that John Howard is by far the dullest man in Australia. Imagine a very committed funeral home director… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
