“Reptiles and amphibians are sometimes thought of as primitive, dull and dimwitted. In fact, of course, they can be lethally fast, spectacularly beautiful, surprisingly affectionate and very sophisticated.”

“Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull people are sometimes very happy and intelligent people can and do go around making themselves and everyone else miserable.”

“The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the 'Star Spangled Banner', but in fact the message was this:”

“For me it was also very special. It was so beautiful with all the children singing. I thought I would be nervous, but I was surprisingly calm. Think it will be like when you know what you want in life, then it is quiet.”

“Beauty beheld in solitude is even more lethal.”

“Hold fast to whatever fragments of love that exist, for sometimes a mosaic is more beautiful than an unbroken pattern.”

“Surprisingly, it is not like they say: "In this or in that country", no. There are beautiful women in every country.”

“It was a beautiful afternoon; one to make you realise that God really can be very good sometimes with weather and scenery.”

“There are beautiful sounds in rock. Very lazy, dreamlike noises. You can forget about the lyrics in most songs. Just dig the noise, and you've got your sound… We're musical primitives.”

“It [this book] is, very simply, an account of how three primitive societies have grouped their social attitudes towards temperament about the very obvious facts of sex-difference.”