Paul Theroux
Quotations
-
“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
-
“When I was in the Peace Corps I never made a phone call. I was in Central Africa I didn’t make a phone call for two years. I was in Uganda for another four years and I didn’t make a phone call. So for six years I didn’t make a phone call, but I wrote…
-
“The moment that changed me for ever was the moment my first child was born. I was happy, filled with hope, and thought, ‘Now I understand the whole point of work, of life, of love.’” -Paul Theroux
-
“When I began to make some money, I really wanted to have a home.” -Paul Theroux
-
“Friendship is also about liking a person for their failings, their weakness. It’s also about mutual help, not about exploitation.” -Paul Theroux
-
“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
-
“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
-
“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.” -Paul Theroux
-
“The people of Hong Kong are criticized for only being interested in business, but it’s the only thing they’ve been allowed to do.” -Paul Theroux
-
It’s only when you’re alone that you realize where you are. You have nothing to fall back on except your own resources. – Paul Theroux
View More Quotations – By Author.
View More Quotations – By Topic.
Home.