Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He was one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and later made a number of travel documentaries...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth5 May 1943
CityBroomhill, England
expert maker travel trying writer
I'm not your expert on Africa or animals or whatever. I'm not a travel writer or maker of documentaries. I was someone who doesn't know very much, trying to communicate.
people trying quality
I don't see why it should be remarkable that you can acquire a reputation for fairness and decency. Those are qualities shared by so many people. And the great majority of people I meet are decent people, just trying to navigate their way through the world without causing too much trouble.
notebook eye trying
When I'm travelling, I always take my little notebook and scribble things down as I watch them; I'm very much geared to everything that's happening. Whereas, the diary I keep is just about a record of a day I've spent. When I'm filming, I'm looking quite intensely at everything I see and trying to get my own eye on what we're going through.
trying life-is disaster
I mistrust total competence. I've always felt life is a series of small disasters we try to get through.
death few found george held helped humor last life mixture pleasant rather saw terrors time
There was a mixture there and it was a rather pleasant mixture, and I think it helped him a lot in the last few years, that he had his spirituality, ... Death held no terrors for George whatsoever, and he still got a lot out of life and found the humor was there right up to when the last time I saw him, which was in August.
formidable love reading revelation shows side virginia vulnerable woman
I love reading other people's diaries, especially someone like Virginia Woolf's - such a formidable woman that it's a revelation when she shows you a more vulnerable side of herself.
people
So many people had been asking me to write an autobiography, or threatening to write my biography without any input from me, that I thought I'd better tell my story before other people told it for me.
bad however kids life separate strand
The kids growing up is a separate strand to your life. However bad a day you've had, that's the most important thing, and you have to remember that.
life profiles quite sorted spent
When I read profiles of myself, I sometimes think: 'I have spent my whole life struggling to understand my motivations and impulses, and I've never quite sorted them out.'
both cut former seemed
I've been lucky enough to stand on both poles, but the place that seemed the remotest to me was Butugychag, a former gulag in Siberia. It is completely cut off from the rest of the world.
fear quite realise
I don't seek discomfort. But, very often, you realise that what you fear is actually quite ephemeral; something's different, something's unfamiliar; therefore, it must be worse.
along hollywood home marriage possible pulling travel
Hollywood was possible for a while! Why didn't I go along with it? Well, the other things that were pulling me back were more important. Being at home, being in the same marriage, these things enabled me to go off and travel in the first place.
both easier good great people talking
I'm not good at confrontation. I know my strengths. I like company. And I am not a great arguer... I do find it much easier talking to people I like about things we both like.
assume decent expected famous four people yacht
Fame changes everything. When you're well-known, you're expected to be different. Some people assume you must have a yacht and four homes. Or that you're famous because you are 'A Decent Man'.