Tuesday, December 07, 2010

From the Commonplace Book

"...one must never be deterred from doing what one wants for lack of money don't you agree?" (Nancy Mitford to Robert Byron)

On the late President Turkmenbashi of Turkmenistan:
"Stories trickling out of the country described a tyrant with the flair of Liberace and the savagery of Stalin". (Eric Enno Tamm, The Horse that Leaps Though Clouds)

On Xinjiang: "The province's traditions of hospitality are all its own, and the death- rate at banquets appalling". (Peter Fleming)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There is a huge, gold-plated statue of Turkmenbashi in the capital which rotates to face the sun.

Peter