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Paul Theroux
22 quotes
“Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: New York Times (July 28, 1976).
“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Paul Theroux, Restless Writer Of the Rails“ by Paul Hendrickson, Washington Post (September 20, 1979).
“The realization that he is white in a black country, and respected for it, is the turning point in the expatriate’s career. He can either forget it, or capitalize on it. Most choose the latter.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tarzan Is an Expatriate, quoted in Patrick Marnham's Dispatches from Africa, ch. 1 (1981).
“Mustn’t grumble” was the most English of expressions. English patience was mingled inertia and despair. What was the use? But Americans did nothing but grumble! Americans also boasted. "I do some pretty incredible things” was not an English expression. "I’m fairly keen" was not American. Americans were showoffs — it was part of our innocence — we often fell on our faces; the English seldom showed off, so they seldom looked like fools.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around Great Britain, ch. 1 (1983).
“The Peace Corps is a sort of Howard Johnson’s on the main drag into maturity.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sunrise with Seamonsters (1985).
“I have always disliked being a man. The whole idea of manhood in America is pitiful, in my opinion. This version of masculinity is a little like having to wear an ill-fitting coat for one's entire life (by contrast, I imagine femininity to be an oppressive sense of nakedness).”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Being a Man" (1983), from Sunrise with Seamonsters: Travels and Discoveries, 1964-84 (Houghton Mifflin, 1986, , 384 pages), p. 309.
“Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Observer (London, October 29, 1989).
“Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love life and value it with such passion that it may be the ultimate cause of all joy and all art.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hockney’s Alphabet, D is for Death, ed. Stephen Spender (1991)
“Animal lovers often tend to be misanthropes or loners, and so they transfer their affection to the creature in their control.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Living With Geese, Smithsonian Magazine (December 2006).
“Assigning human personalities to animals is the chief trait of the pet owner—the doting dog-lover with his baby talk, the smug stay-at-home with a fat lump of fur on her lap who says, "Me, I'm a cat person," and the granny who puts her nose against the tin cage and makes kissing noises at her parakeet. Their affection is often tinged with a sense of superiority. Deer and duck hunters never talk this way about their prey, though big game hunters— Hemingway is the classic example — often sentimentalize the creatures they blow to bits and then lovingly stuff to hang on the wall.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fogeydom is the last bastion of the bore and reminiscence is its anthem. It is futile to want the old days back, but that doesn't mean one should ignore the lessons of the visitable past.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remember the Cicadas and the Stars?, International Herald Tribune (January 2, 2007).
“I sought trains; I found passengers.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Extensive traveling induces a feeling of encapsulation, and travel, so broadening at first, contracts the mind.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Photographers are failed painters.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The trouble with cameras is that people see them a mile away.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You define a good flight by negatives: you didn’t get hijacked, you didn’t crash, you didn’t throw up, you weren’t late, you weren’t nauseated by the food. So you are grateful.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must not judge people by their country. In South America, it is always wise to judge people by their altitude.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tightfisted people are as mean with friendship as they are with cash--suspicious, unbelieving, and incurious.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In many ways connection has been disastrous. We have confused information (of which there has been too much of) with ideas (of which there are too few. I found out much more about the world and myself by being unconnected.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even the most distant and exotic place has its parallel in ordinary life.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You have to find out for yourself. Take the leap. Go as far as you can. Try staying out of touch. Become a stranger in a strange land. Acquire humility. Learn the language. Listen to what people are saying.”
Paul Theroux (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source