Paul Theroux

"Tightfisted people are as mean with friendship as they are with cash--suspicious, unbelieving, and incurious."

"Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us."

"You have to find out for yourself. Take the leap. Go as far as you can. Try staying out of touch. Become a stranger in a strange land. Acquire humility. Learn the language. Listen to what people are s…"

"Animal lovers often tend to be misanthropes or loners, and so they transfer their affection to the creature in their control."

"“Mustn’t grumble” was the most English of expressions. English patience was mingled inertia and despair. What was the use? But Americans did nothing but grumble! Americans also boasted. "I do some pre…"

"Extensive traveling induces a feeling of encapsulation, and travel, so broadening at first, contracts the mind."

"Fogeydom is the last bastion of the bore and reminiscence is its anthem. It is futile to want the old days back, but that doesn't mean one should ignore the lessons of the visitable past."

"Even the most distant and exotic place has its parallel in ordinary life."