442 Quotes by Paul Theroux

You can't save the rhinos and you can't preserve a culture. I'm very pessimistic. Once it's gone, it's over.

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.

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.

I'm constantly running across people who have never heard of books I think they should read.

Loneliness in travel directs you and tells you about yourself. You don't become lonely unless you're alone.

All travel is circular. I had been jerked through Asia, making a parabola on one of the planet's hemispheres. After all, the grand tour is just the inspired man's way of heading home.

If you're a misanthrope you stay at home. There are certain writers who really don't like other people. I'm not like that, I don't think.

I always found myself in the company of Australians, who were like a reminder that I'd touched bottom.

Men in their late 50s often make very bad decisions.