Bruce Chatwin quotes

To lose a passport was the least of one's worries. To lose a notebook was a catastrophe. (Bruce Chatwin)
Even today, when an Aboriginal mother notices the first stirrings of speech in her child, she lets it handle the "things" of that particular country: leaves, fruit, insects and so forth. "We give our children guns and computer games," Wendy said. "They gave their children the land." View quote
Bruce Chatwin
I haven't got any special religion this morning. My God is the God of Walkers. If you walk hard enough, you probably don't need any other god. View quote
Bruce Chatwin
Walking is a virtue, tourism is a deadly sin. View quote
Bruce Chatwin
I learned about Chinese ceramics and African sculptures, I aired my scanty knowledge of the French Impressionists, and I prospered. View quote
Bruce Chatwin
As a general rule of biology, migratory species are less 'aggressive' than sedentary ones. There is one obvious reason why this should be so. The migration itself, like the pilgrimage, is the hard journey: a 'leveller' on which the 'fit' survive and stragglers fall by the wayside. The journey thus pre-empts the need for hierarchies and shows of dominance. The 'dictators' of the animal kingdom are those who live in an ambience of plenty. The anarchists, as always, are the 'gentlemen of the road'. View quote
Bruce Chatwin
Because they knew each other's thoughts, they even quarrelled without speaking. View quote
Bruce Chatwin
As you go along, you literally collect places. I'm fed up with going to places; I shan't go to anymore. View quote
Bruce Chatwin
The history of Buenos Aires is written in its telephone directory. Pompey Romanov, Emilio Rommel, Crespina D. Z. de Rose, Ladislao Radziwil, and Elizabeta Marta Callman de Rothschild - five names taken at random from among the R's - told a story of exile, desolation, disillusion, and anxiety behind lace curtains. View quote
Bruce Chatwin