All travel is circular. I had been jerked through Asia…

“All travel is circular. I had been jerked through Asia, making a parabola on one of the planet's hemispheres. After all, the grand tour is just the inspired man's way of heading home.”

Paul Theroux

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Travel reveals the world as a loop, returning home after exploration.

In simple terms: Travel is a circle that ends where it began.

Key Takeaway

Travel, then return home.

Themes

travel homecoming perspective

Mood

adventurous nostalgic

Type

literary reflective

When to use this quote

backpacking
long‑haul flights
expatriate life

Key Concepts

Circular journeys cultural immersion

Questions to Reflect On

How does travel change your sense of home?
What does "inspired man's way" imply?

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

Asia Heading home Hemisphere Home Inspiring travel Men Parabola Travel

More by Paul Theroux

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

Explore all 328 Paul Theroux quotes

More Asia quotes

Firstly, economic globalisation has brought prosperity and development to many countries, but also financial crises to Asia, Latin America and Russia, and increasing poverty…

Anna Lindh

We have reiterated on many occasions that China wishes to establish and develop long-term, good-neighbourly and friendly relations with all countries in south Asia.

Li Peng

So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else…

P. J. O'Rourke

In Russia there is an emigration of intelligence: émigrés cross the frontier in order to read and to write good books. But in doing…

Friedrich Nietzsche

It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate. The AIDS orphans…

Condoleezza Rice

Many of us, whether in the jungles of Asia or on the streets of Chicago, had discovered that noble causes can lead to ignoble…

Linda Grant

In view of China's growing military strength and intentions, the best way to safeguard Asia's permanent peace and prosperity is to have all Asian…

Jim Costa

Certainly, protecting oppressed people, stopping ethnic conflict and promoting responsible governance are worthy goals. But none is as important for American security and prosperity…

Michael Mandelbaum

The evidence points to central Asia as man's original home, for the general movement of human migrations has been outward from that region and…

Ellsworth Huntington

Maybe it is the last chance for Europe to influence standards for world trade. Next it will be between the US and the Asia-Pacific…

Sigmar Gabriel

Countries will cooperate with each other, and are more likely to cooperate with each other when they share a common culture, as is most…

Samuel P. Huntington

The uniqueness of the United States in human history is the United States is the first global power in human history which emerged far…

Ahmet Davutoglu

I've lived 16, 17 years of my life in Asia, and that's most of my life. I was born in Asia - I've lived…

Henry Golding

I've built a career in Asia for 18 years, playing roles that had nothing to do with my race because everybody's Chinese in the films.

Daniel Wu

Our resources will diminish in the coming decades at a time when hunger for energy grows dramatically in China and other parts of Asia.…

Hermann E. Ott

Browse all 770 Asia quotes

All travel is circular. I had been jerked through Asia…

About This Quote

Related quotes

More by Paul Theroux

More Asia quotes