"The way we treat words is odd. Words are combinations of letters. There's no inherent meaning. At best, they're our way of trying to describe reality, and even then they are only an indefinite approximation. Words are maps to the territory of existence, and we shouldn't confuse the map with the territory."
- I'm Not Really Here; Tim Allen

"Few things are harder to put up with than a good example."
- Mark Twain


Picture : Christ Church, one of the famous historical landmarks in Melaka. 

"Being Surrey, of course, the pub had been bistrofied. It was also spinning round quite a lot."
- For Crying Out Loud; Jeremy Clarkson.


- A pubbish kind of place called The Geographer; Melaka. 

"To be honest, I'm trying to maintain a Buddhist detachment about the whole thing to stop it taking ten years of my life."
-A Spot of Bother; Mark Haddon


Picture : Another quaint shop in the Jonker Street area, Melaka 

 
"To be brave, by definition, one has first to be afraid."
- Robert Harris; Pompeii


Picture : A little shark in a Coralarium in Melaka.

"Any rash fool can be a hero if he sets no value on his life or hasn't the wit to appreciate danger."
- Robert Harris; Conspirata.



- Picture : The Eye On Malaysia; Taman Kota Laksamana, Melaka

"Put a premium on peace. Crave it. Pursue it."
- Joyce Meyer




Picture : The historical fort at Kota Lukut.

"We create our lives simbiotically as we explore our talents in relation to circumstances they create for us."
- Sir Ken Robinson; in one of his TED talks.


- A wall in the Jonker Street area, Melaka 

"I'm an exceptional artist, trapped in the body of a man with no musical ability."
- Kathleen Tessaro; The Perfume Collector.



Picture : An eclectic artist gallery in the Jonker Street area, Melaka. 

"Back in the rich, warm glow of the hotel lobby, piano music played, soft and melodious."
- Kathleen Tessaro; The Pefume Collector.


Picture : Jonker Boutique Hotel; Melaka. 


 

"I can't bear the thought of paying a small fortune every year so they can be put on a treadmill and emotionally flogged until they're bulimic, suicidal and riddled with tics and angst. School is supposed to prepare a person for life, not wear them out."
- Jeremy Clarkson; For Crying Out Loud.


 Picture : St Francis Institution; Melaka
 
 

 
"The earth reclaimed them all, and their passions."
- Scott Turow; The Burden of Proof.



Picture : The tomb of the historical warrior Hang Jebat; Melaka 2013. 

"Maybe I can restore an old car's magic, but lately I feel that I don't have enough energy to re-create my own magic. Besides, I'm not sure that any new magic will seem magic enough."
- I'm Not Really Here; Tim Allen

"Things usually go well until they they stop going well."
- David Baldacci; The Sixth Man

"God has put enough reason in this world to make faith a reasonable proposition, but He has left enough reason out to make it impossible to live by reason alone."
- Ravi Zacharaias

Picture : Ravi Zacharias.

"I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me forever within the numbered days, and I am grateful."
- John Green; The Fault In Our Stars.


Picture : A music score that I have had for more than 20 years.
 

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."
- Abraham Lincoln



Picture : Got this off a video on the internet. 

"When my daughter was born, we videotaped the birth. Now when she makes me angry, I just hit rewind and put her back in."
- Grace White in The Readers Digest

Picture : My Dad and I, Taman Jaya, Selangor. 

"The trouble with trouble is, it starts out as fun."
- Naomi Judd.

"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer."
- Henry Kissenger


 Picture : Taken in a washroom in a shopping centre . . .
 

"I imagine I shall go for a spot of lunch."
- My Booky Wook; Russel Brand.


 

Picture : Taken in Times Bookstore.

"The fellow who thinks he knows it all is especially annoying to those of us who do."
- Harold Coffin.


Picture : The right head I got off the internet whilst the left one I copied and painted. 

"I have gone to look for myself. If I should return before I get back, keep me here."
- Author unknown.



Picture : Templer Park 

"I walked through the village to the cemetery. The crisp winter air burned my nostrils and reminded me how painfully alive I was."
- Audrey Hepburn : An Elegant Spirit; Sean Hepburn Ferrer.

Picture : The grounds of St. Oswalds Church, Grasmere, Lake District, England.

"His legs outstretched, he'd settled in for a sweet little nap, when some fool with a death wish rapped on the door."
Angela's Ashes; Frank Mc Court.

Picture : A door in St. Andrews, Scotland. 

"He returned to the first page of the letter and plunged once again into the flood of unsavory revelations."
 - Love In The Time Of Cholera; Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

"It is well to remember the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
- John Andrew Holmes.

Picture : A lunar model; National Science Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. 

"God, so far I've done great today. I haven't lied, cheated or stolen. I haven't been negative, critical or judgemental; but I'm gonna need your help today, 'cause I'm about to get out of bed."
- Joel Osteen.



Picture : Templer Park.

"He marched over to give me a piece of his mind, which judging from his vocabulary he could ill afford."
 - Booky Wook 2; Russel Brand.


Picture : The Butter + Beans Cafe which serves delicious quiche. And coffee.

"Even now, in the lawyers' chambers, there was a unity and precision in the colours, shapes and sizes of the furniture ... "
- Kathleen Tessaro; The Perfume Collector


Picture : Ben's at Publika; Kuala Lumpur

"Life is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can't take it in all at once."
- Audrey Hepburn

Picture : Picture of one of the wall hangings being sold in Ikea. 

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
- Saint Augustine



Picture : Plan B, Publika, Kuala Lumpur.

"It was one of those nights when everything feels like it's broken."
- Russell Brand; My Booky Wook

 "People take for granted what is in fact an art. To live well, to live comfortably by one's own standards takes a certain maturity of spirit, exceptional character, truly refined tastes, and . . . . . and money."
Kathleen Tessaro; The Peffume Collector

Picture : Chic in a shop window.

"As usual, when faced with mental, or even physical arithmetic, my brain has just left my body and walked out of the room."
- Sue Townsend; Adrian Mole : The Wilderness Years


Picture : At Ben's Independent Grocer.

"Here, maintaining a certain chic was apparently nothing less than a civic duty."
- Kathleen Tessaro; The Perfume Collector



Picture : I think this was on The Golden Mile in Edinburgh.

"She inhabited a universe parallel to but not quite the same as others."
- Scott Turow; Reversible Errors


Picture : Early one Sunday morning; Padang Merbuk, Kuala Lumpur.

 "I feel like a sheet of paper that someone's torn into tiny pieces and thrown to the wind. But the wind of Paris is rather nice."
- Kathleen Tessaro; The Perfume Collector

"Ooh, it's Christmas o'clock. Smile everyone!"
- Russell Brand; My Booky Wook



Picture : At Jamie's Italian, Islington, London.

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
- Douglas Adams


Picture : One of my pewter wine charms.

 "Good manners : The noise you don't make when you're eating soup."
- Bennett Cerf



Picture : I'd have thought one drinks soup, not eats it. Anyhow, picture is of this nice cafe of which I have forgotten the name of.  

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then it suddenly flips over, pinning you underneath. At night the ice weasels come out."
- Matt Groening

Picture : Self explanatory. 

"This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read."
- Winston Churchill


Picture : Typewriters of yesteryear at Plan B.

"Won't you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you."
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan



Picture : A macro shot from one of my daughter's books.

 "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one."
- George Mikes


 

Picture : This was not taken in England, but in St. Andrews, Scotland.

"I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon."
- Ronald Reagan




Picture : Saw this sign in the Bangsar Telawi area.

 "As I left, I passed her husband, who was still drying the little blue jug twenty minutes later. A suitable case for treatment if ever I saw one."
- Sue Townsend in Adrian Mole : The Wilderness Years.


Picture : Not a jug unfortunately, but one of my wine charms.



  

"I was a tourist in that world."
- Russel Brand ; My Booky Wook



Picture : Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Kuala Lumpur. Taken on the way to dinner one evening.

"Proofread carefully to see if you any words out."
- William Safire



Picture : My stamping set. 

"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils."
- Hector Louis Berlioz


Picture : A macro shot of a motif on my little Portmeirion clock.