Bill Bryson Quotes


You can always tell a Midwestern couple in Europe because they will be standing in the middle of a busy intersection looking at a wind-blown map and arguing over which way is west. European cities, with their wandering streets and undisciplined alleys, drive Midwesterners practically insane. - Bill Bryson



When you tell an Iowan a joke, you can see a kind of race going on between his brain and his expression. - Bill Bryson



When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn't come from anywhere else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education . . . - Bill Bryson



We have been chosen... by fate or providence or whatever you wish to call it. As far as we can tell, we are the best there is. We may be all there is. It's an unnerving thought that we may be the living universe's supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously. - Bill Bryson



We are so used to the notion of our own inevitability as life's dominant species that it is hard to grasp that we are only here because of timely extraterrestrial bangs and other random flukes. - Bill Bryson