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.

Quote by Paul Theroux

Topics: Paul Theroux Quotes

Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you will never be asked to do...

Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you will never be asked to do...

Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love...

Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love...

Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.

Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.

Extensive traveling induces a feeling of encapsulation, and travel, so broadening at first, contracts the...

Extensive traveling induces a feeling of encapsulation, and travel, so broadening at first, contracts the...

Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves.

Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves.

As Calcutta smells of death and Bombay of Money, Bangkok smells of sex, but this...

As Calcutta smells of death and Bombay of Money, Bangkok smells of sex, but this...

The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.

The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.

Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.

Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.

The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.

The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.

Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.

Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.

Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.

Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.

The Peace Corps is a sort of Howard Johnson's on the main drag into maturity.

The Peace Corps is a sort of Howard Johnson's on the main drag into maturity.

It is usually expensive and lonely to be principled.

It is usually expensive and lonely to be principled.

I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.

I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.

Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.

Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.

Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.

Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.

There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy...

There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy...