I don't want to be the honored guest. I want to be the invisible person. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
Fogeydom is the last bastion of the bore and reminiscence is its anthem. It is futile to want the old days back,… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
I hate vacations. I hate them. I have no fun on them. I get nothing done. People sit and relax, but I… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
No one has ever described the place where I have just arrived: this is the emotion that makes me want to travel.… — 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
Notice how many of the Olympic athletes effusively thanked their mothers for their success? “She drove me to my practice at four… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
A travel book is a book that puts you in the shoes of the traveler, and it's usually a book about having… — 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
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
People see a hungry face, and they want to feed it; that's a natural response. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
A place that doesn't welcome tourists, that's really difficult and off the map, is a place I want to see. — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
When I'm writing, I like to travel alone. If you really want to find out about a place, you need to be… — 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
Travel is about failure or overcoming obstacles, overcoming failures. When a traveler is having lots of good luck, that is not a… — 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
