All politicians, even the most idealistic ones, are looking for money, sucking up to rich people. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
People talk about the pain of writing, but very few people talk about the pleasure and satisfaction. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
What strikes me about high-school reunions is the realization that these are people one has known one's whole life. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
I'm constantly running across people who have never heard of books I think they should read. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Tightfisted people are as mean with friendship as they are with cash--suspicious, unbelieving, and incurious. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
You must not judge people by their country. In South America, it is always wise to judge people by their altitude. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
In countries where all the crooked politicians wear pin-striped suits, the best people are bare-assed. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
The Colombians are good-tempered people. They are used to waiting for buses that are late, used to riding buses and trains that… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
I think people read travel books either because they intend to take that trip, or because they would never take that trip.… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Fiction writing, and the reading of it, and book buying, have always been the activities of a tiny minority of people, even… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
The conversation, like many others I had with people on trains, derived an easy candour from the shared journey, the comfort of… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
I was raised in a large family. The first reason for my travel was to get away from my family. I knew… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
If people are driving you around to look at animals, that's wonderful. That's educational, but it's not necessarily enlightening and you're not… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
There are two worlds: the world of the tourist and the world of everyone else. Often they're side by side. But the… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Tibet has a very proud people but it's culturally gone and overrun ever since the Chinese took over. It's like saving the… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
I never stay with people and I never look people up when I travel. I depend more on just chance meetings. The… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Unless there is a strong sense of place there is no travel writing, but it need not come from topographical description; dialogue… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
The two impulses in travel are to get away from home, and the other is to pursue something - a landscape, people,… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
When I left Africa in 1966 it seemed to me to be a place that was developing, going in a particular direction,… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Is there any point in going across the world to eat something or buy something or watch people squatting among their ruins?… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
People write about getting sick, they write about tummy trouble, they write about having to wait for a bus. They write about… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Albania in 1994 was the strangest place I've ever seen. It was like walking into the looking glass: falling apart, paranoid people,… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Travel books are all sorts - some are autobiographies, some are about falling in love. Some are about having great meals, some… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
The larger an English industry was, the more likely it was to go bankrupt, because the English were not naturally corporate people;… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Connection" is the triumphal cry these days. Connection has made people arrogant, impatient, hasty, and presumptuous. ...I don't doubt that instant communication… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
When you travel you realize how small you are. You need to be humble. You can't be a big, brash American. You… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
People see a hungry face, and they want to feed it; that's a natural response. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
You need to be on your own so that you can meet people as you are, and as they are. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
You leave the States, and you see people have bigger problems than you, much worse problems than you. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Painters paint outdoors, or in rooms full of people; they paint their lovers, alone, naked; they paint and eat; they paint and… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
One of the upsides of tourism is that people begin to take themselves a little more seriously (and think their) culture is… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
To a lot of Africans, seeing an animal is a something of a rarity. So it's a paradox of this sort of… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
People say writing is really hard. That's very unfair to those who are doing real jobs. People who work in the fields… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Dentists seem to me very orderly, businesslike people who appear to become somewhat bored with the routine of their work after a… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
The people of Hong Kong are criticized for only being interested in business, but it's the only thing they've been allowed to… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
A gun show is about like-minded people who feel as if everything has been taken away from them - jobs, money, pride. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
The travel impulse is mental and physical curiosity. It's a passion. And I can't understand people who don't want to travel. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Sometimes people read a book in order to not go on a trip. You read a book instead of going on the… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
You can't separate the people from the places - although I sometimes like traveling in places where there are no people. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
I feel as if my mission is to write, to see, to observe, and I feel lazy if I'm not reaching conclusions. I feel… — Paul Theroux Copy Share
The larger an English industry was, the more likely it was to go bankrupt, because the English were not naturally corporate people; they disliked… — Paul Theroux Copy Share
Maine out of season is unmistakably a great destination: hospitable, good-humored, plenty of elbow room, short days, dark nights of crackling ice crystals. — Paul Theroux Copy Share
“sightseeing, an activity that delights the truly idle because it seems so much like scholarship, gawping and eavesdropping on antiquity, flattering oneself with the… — Paul Theroux Copy Share
Tourists who go to Africa have more of a traditional experience than Africans do. A tourist goes on safari; Africans don't. — Paul Theroux Copy Share
In a way, Che Guevara's fate was far worse than Simon Bolivar's. Guevara's collapse was complete: his intentions were forgotten, but his style was… — Paul Theroux Copy Share
Pain does not create a long-lasting memory, but the memory of luxury exerts itself for ever. — Paul Theroux Copy Share
The wish to disappear sends many travelers away. If you are thoroughly sick of being kept waiting at home or at work, travel is… — Paul Theroux Copy Share
To a lot of Africans, seeing an animal is a something of a rarity. So it's a paradox of this sort of parallel life.… — Paul Theroux Copy Share
The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to change the… — Paul Theroux Copy Share
