“The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage.The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting place.”

“The island had come to seem one of those places seen from the train that belong to a life in which we shall never take part.”

“BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN”

“Who would wave a flag to be rescued if they had a desert island of their own? That was the thing that spoilt Robinson Crusoe. In the end he came home. There never ought to be an end.”

“A pigeon a day keeps the natives away.”

“They found, like many explorers before them, that somehow, in their absence, they had got into trouble at home.”

“Only, the beastly Arctic won't freeze,”