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.

Last days? Don’t they know? These are the traits of all days, every day, everywhere.

There’s always a way if you’re not in a hurry.

We all know that a vast proportion of travel is accumulated nuisance; but if boredom or awfulness is handled with skill and concrete detail, it is funnier and truer than the sunniest prose.

If people are driving you around to look at animals, that’s wonderful. That’s educational, but it’s not necessarily enlightening and you’re not finding out much about yourself.

I’m not pessimistic about Africa. The cities just seem big and hopeless. But there’s still a great green heart where there’s possibility. There’s hope in the wilderness.

Nature is crooked. I wanted right angles and straight lines. Ice! Oh, why do they all drip? You cut yourself opening a can of tuna fish and you die. One puncture in your foot and your life leaks out through your toe. What are they for, moose antlers? Get down on all fours and live. You’re protected on your hands and knees. It’s either that or wings.

Basically, what you find out is the limits of your patience and your strength and your capacity to adapt. You find that out in travel and being alone and being tested. So that’s a great thing.

But art should require no instrument but memory.