“My father never told us how the stories worked. He didn't reveal the layers, the nuggets of information, the fragments of truth and fantasy. He didn't need to -- because, given the right conditions, the stories activated, sowing themselves.” — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“As the head of an expedition, you can't pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in a while;… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“The last thing we wanted was for the Machiguenga to be sad again. Sadness appeared to bring out their violence.” — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“Normally I would have been the first to go in search of cannibal monks, particularly as I had heard of a similar tradition at… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“Inscribed on it was a verse from the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, the eleventh-century Persian mystic. Reading the words aloud I prepared for a… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“Moroccan traffic isn't like normal traffic. It's armed combat, a war of wills, in which only the very bravest have a chance to survive.” — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“Prideep pointed to the flames of paraffin lamps as they came alive in the distance and cackled in awe at the experience. (…) I… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“The very fact that a Frenchman was prepared, after tow minutes of conversation, to be so friendly towards anyone, especially one who had come… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways. — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“As anyone who's ever taken an Ethiopian bus knows, there is an unwritten rule that the windows must remain firmly closed.” — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense.” — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
“Back at the guest house I tried to acclimatise. A travel-worn adventurer had once told me that leaning with one's head dangling over the… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones. — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had been in… — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation. — Tahir Shah Copy Share Image
