Sometimes we need inspiration from the unlikeliest of people, but other times it has to be Bill Murray. Bill is someone you should always seek advice from in every walk of life.
As a master travel guru, everybody’s favourite deadpan actor excels with insights into life as he roams his personal playground otherwise known as Earth. Bill sees the world with clear unfazed eyes, condensing his experiences into the sharp observations for which we must clearly worship him.
Here are a few Bill Murray quotes and anecdotes that may just inspire your next trip.
Bill Murray on Berlin
“The nightlife is the night-and-day life! They really go hard. The Germans we were working with were like, [does exaggerated German accent] ‘Yes, we’re going to dance night’ and it lasts 41 hours. They go out and it lasts for a day and a half.”
Bill Murray on Ireland
“My favorite place to play golf is in Ireland. That’s where my ancestors come from, and it’s the most beautiful country to play golf in, and when you come as a guest to play golf you are treated like a king.”
Bill Murray thinks you should drink tequila
At the SXSW festival in 2010, Bill Murray walked into the Shangri-La bar and started serving people. He didn’t care what they ordered – he’d just give them tequila…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwwEGjGbxXM
Bill Murray on Japan
“I would go to sushi bars with a book I had called ‘Making out in Japanese’. It was a small paperback book, with questions like ‘Can we get into the back seat?’, ‘Do your parents know about me?’, ‘Do you have a curfew?’
“And I would say to the sushi chef ‘Do you have a curfew? Do your parents know about us? And can we get into the back seat?’
“And I would always have a lot of fun with that, but that one particular day, he said ‘Would you like some fresh eel?” and I said ‘Yes I would,’ so he came back with a fresh eel, a live eel, and then he walked back behind a screen and came back in 10 seconds with a no-longer-alive eel. It was the freshest thing I had ever eaten in my life. It was such a funny moment to see something that was alive that no longer was alive, that was my food, in 30 seconds.”
Bill Murray on New York
“My favorite thing about New York is the people, because I think they’re misunderstood. I don’t think people realise how kind New York people are. The drivers are far more considerate, they’re just very aggressive.”
Bill on the free market
“Yeah, I think that’s sort of the American way. And it’s also the Polish way, it turns out.”
Bill Murray on Hawaii
“The last place I played golf? Well the last place I can think of is I was working on a job in Hawaii with Emma Stone, and one day I got to play golf at a place called Weilea on a place called Oahu. I played with Scott Simpson, and I played with 3 other great, great Hawaiian guys who were SO much fun and so positive, and one was the club champion. And when you play with great players, you play better, it just elevates your game. A high tide raises all boats, you’ve heard that one?
“I played so well, I won $50. Winning $50 playing golf? That’s money. So I won $50, and they couldn’t believe I could putt, and that I didn’t choke. We played into the sunset on the Pacific Ocean, with leaning palm trees, laughing the entire time.
“But then this very positive group of people said on the next day, ‘We want to take you on a outrigger canoe to go surfing waves in the Pacific.’
“It was delirious. It was something everyone should get a chance to do.
“That was a round of golf, where it went EVEN further. And they now are my friends.
“And I went from the surf, to the plane, and that was the end of my job. I was all salty, I had a lei around my neck, I was charmed.”
Bill Murray on travelling the world with your partner
“If you have someone that you think is The One, don’t do… don’t just sort of think in your ordinary mind, ‘Okay, let’s make a date. Let’s plan this and make a party and get married.’ Take that person and travel around the world. Buy a plane ticket for the two of you to travel all around the world, and go to places that are hard to go to and hard to get out of. And if when you come back to JFK, when you land in JFK, and you’re still in love with that person, get married at the airport.”
Here he is as lounge singer Nick Ocean doing his bit for tourism:
(Feature image: Louise McLaren)
