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
As Calcutta smells of death and Bombay of Money, Bangkok smells of sex, but this sexual aroma is mingled with the sharper… — 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
Nyasaland was the perfect country for a volunteer. It was friendly and destitute; it was small and out-of-the-way. It had all of… — 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 realization that he is white in a black country, and respected for it, is the turning point in the expatriate's career.… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
The biggest surprise was that a country like Angola, that has so much money, that produces so much oil, would be in… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Every country has the writers she requires and deserves, which is why Nicaragua, in two hundred years of literacy, has produced one… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
You can't write about a friend, you can only write about a former friend. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Pain does not create a long-lasting memory, but the memory of luxury exerts itself for ever. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
