Paul Theroux quotes - page 2

"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)
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. View quote
Paul Theroux
I think most serious and omnivorous readers are alike- intense in their dedication to the word, quiet-minded, but relieved and eagerly talkative when they meet other readers and kindred spirits. View quote
Paul Theroux
Most travel, and certainly the rewarding kind, involves depending on the kindness of strangers, putting yourself into the hands of people you don't know and trusting them with your life. View quote
Paul Theroux
travel [is] flight and pursuit in equal parts. View quote
Paul Theroux
He regarded himself as an accomplished writer - a clear sign of madness in anyone. View quote
Paul Theroux
You go away for a long time and return a different person - you never come all the way back. View quote
Paul Theroux
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. View quote
Paul Theroux
The trouble with cameras is that people see them a mile away. View quote
Paul Theroux
When I started writing, I did have some idealised notion of my dad as a writer. But I have less and less of a literary rivalry with him as I've gone on. I certainly don't feel I need his approval, although maybe that's because I'm confident that I've got it. View quote
Paul Theroux
Mark Twain was a great traveler and he wrote three or four great travel books. I wouldn't say that I'm a travel novelist but rather a novelist who travels - and who uses travel as a background for finding stories of places. (Paul Theroux)
Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, Graham Greene - they influenced my life to a profound extent. View quote
Paul Theroux
You may not know it but I'm no good at coping with all the attention in the luxury hotels I sometimes find myself in. View quote
Paul Theroux
You can't write about a friend, you can only write about a former friend. View quote
Paul Theroux
The pleasure a reader gets is often equal to the pleasure a writer is given. View quote
Paul Theroux
The more you write, the more you're capable of writing. View quote
Paul Theroux
There are two worlds: the world of the tourist and the world of everyone else. Often they're side by side. But the tourist doesn't actually see how people live. View quote
Paul Theroux
When I left Africa in 1966 it seemed to me to be a place that was developing, going in a particular direction, and I don't think that is the case now. And it's a place where people still kid themselves - you know, in a few years this will happen or that will happen. Well, it's not going to happen. It's never going to happen. View quote
Paul Theroux
Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves. View quote
Paul Theroux
When I write about my childhood I think, oh my God, how did I ever get from there to here? Not that any great thing has happened to me. But I felt so tiny, so lost. View quote
Paul Theroux
I like the idea of isolation, I like the idea of solitude. You can be connected and have a phone and still be lonely. (Paul Theroux)
Travel works best when you're forced to come to terms with the place you're in. View quote
Paul Theroux
Literary life used to be quite different in Britain in the years I lived there, from 1971 to 1989, because money was not a factor - no one made very much except from U.S. sales and the occasional windfall. View quote
Paul Theroux
I know there are writers who feel unhappy with domesticity and who even manufacture domestic turmoil in order to have something to write about. With me, though, the happier I feel, the better I write. View quote
Paul Theroux
People talk about the pain of writing, but very few people talk about the pleasure and satisfaction. View quote
Paul Theroux