A British traveler remarked, 'There are [fashions in…

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

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

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

You can't write about a friend, you can only write about a former friend.

— Paul Theroux

“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

The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.

— Paul Theroux

Tourists who go to Africa have more of a traditional experience than Africans do. A tourist goes on safari; Africans don't.

— Paul Theroux

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

It is the simplest fact of Indian life: there are too many Indians.

— Paul Theroux

Pain does not create a long-lasting memory, but the memory of luxury exerts itself for ever.

— Paul Theroux

When I began to make some money, I really wanted to have a home.

— Paul Theroux

Men in their late 50s often make very bad decisions.

— Paul Theroux

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

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

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