Tahir Shah Quotes: top 90 famous quotes about Tahir Shah

Tahir Shah Quotes & Sayings

Happy to read and share the best inspirational Tahir Shah quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.

The first few hours in the cell were quite stimulating. I'd never been in a prison cell before and was quite enjoying the experience. — Tahir Shah

The situation was different in the jungle. Every inch of ground had to be earned, and was done so through much exertion with the blade. — Tahir Shah

The last thing we wanted was for the Machiguenga to be sad again. Sadness appeared to bring out their violence. — Tahir Shah

Respect was one thing. Survival was another. It was important that I kept my priorities in the right order. — Tahir Shah

Usually, there is nothing more pleasing that returning to a place where you have endured hardship. — Tahir Shah

Previous journeys had taught me the danger of taking too much stuff. — Tahir Shah

But in Africa bureaucrats are usually too proud to accept a bribe, something I admire when I'm not the one being arrested. — Tahir Shah

A journey of observation must leave as much as possible to chance. Random movement is the best plan for maximum observation — Tahir Shah

I felt sure we could gain the upper hand by putting ourselves in the mindset of the Incas. — Tahir Shah

Spend sixteen weeks in the jungle and you being to question your own sanity, especially when you are the one goading everyone else ahead. — Tahir Shah

I am all for curses and superstition, but there's a point at which they start getting in the way. That point had arrived. — Tahir Shah

Ours was not going to be a clone of the usual expeditions, oozing with sleekness. It was clear from the start that oddity was our advantage. — Tahir Shah

As far as Samson was concerned I was just another foreigner in pursuit of a lunatic quest. — Tahir Shah

There is nothing like a train journey for reflection. — Tahir Shah

In the West we are driven by an extreme form of guilt
if you are not seen to be working like a dog, you're perceived as being slothful. — Tahir Shah

On a harsh expedition, there's no space for anyone who does not intend to finish. — Tahir Shah

I struggled to think pure thoughts, as Hector sucked out my psyche with his eyes. — Tahir Shah

Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship. — Tahir Shah

A journey, I reflected, is of no merit unless it has tested you. — Tahir Shah

The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways. — Tahir Shah

What came next was a new experience for for both the fish and me — Tahir Shah

Believe, and what was impossible becomes possible what at first was hidden becomes visible. — Tahir Shah

[T]hrough bitter experience I have learned that it is best to promise little and then to reward hard work with generosity. — Tahir Shah

In India everything has a use and a value. — Tahir Shah

We may yearn for rustic detail and old-world charm, but those who have it set their minds on vinyl wallpaper, fitted carpets and all mod cons. — Tahir Shah

In moments of great uncertainty on my travels, I have always felt that something is protecting me, that I will come to no harm. — Tahir Shah

With an enthusiastic team you can achieve almost anything. — Tahir Shah

There's nothing like a pack of mules to give one a sense of entourage. — Tahir Shah

I had learned years ago never to give original documents to anyone if I could help it. — Tahir Shah

A little imagination goes a long way in Fes. — Tahir Shah

In India an explanation is often more confusing than what prompted it. — Tahir Shah

The only thing they valued higher than ammunition were Man United footballs. — Tahir Shah

It was an awkward moment. We were burning down our host's house, a situation which any guest seeks to avoid. — Tahir Shah

The pursuit of illusion is not about studying for prizes, or for study's sake. There's no right or wrong, no pass or fail. — Tahir Shah

In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had been in India long enough. — Tahir Shah

In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense. — Tahir Shah

Time spent in India has a extraordinary effect on one. It acts as a barrier that makes the rest of the world seem unreal. — Tahir Shah

Bombay is a city where gossip is treated as a commodity. — Tahir Shah

Calcutta's the only city I know where you are actively encouraged to stop strangers at random for a quick chat. — Tahir Shah

Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession. — Tahir Shah

Once in a very long time you come across a book that is far, far more than the ink, the glue and the paper, a book that seeps into your blood. — Tahir Shah

The model of publishing is changing and its happening right now, but most publishers are so frightened, they just dont know how to embrace it. — Tahir Shah

Enlightenment, and the death which comes before it, is the primary business of Varanasi. — Tahir Shah

Stories are a communal currency of humanity. — Tahir Shah

In the world of the Machiguenga, sadness could be equated with anger, and anger was a perilous emotion, by which a foreigner could lose his life. — Tahir Shah

Returning to a city that one has known and loved fills you with a delicious sense of warmth. — Tahir Shah

The first rule of an expedition is that everyone should stick together. — Tahir Shah

As anyone who's ever taken an Ethiopian bus knows, there is an unwritten rule that the windows must remain firmly closed. — Tahir Shah

Buy a house in a foreign country and, it seems, that anything which can go wrong usually does. — Tahir Shah

In Morocco, before you even get to the matter of the sale, you have to coax the owner to sell. — Tahir Shah

In any case, a little danger is a small price to pay for ridding a place of tourists. — Tahir Shah

Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones. — Tahir Shah

For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories. — Tahir Shah

The idea of my heart dancing with delight was far too good to pass up. — Tahir Shah

There comes a stage at which a man would rather die cleanly by a bullet than by the unknown terror of the phantom in the forest. — Tahir Shah

Two reeds drink from the same stream. One is hollow, the other is sugarcane. - MOROCCAN PROVERB — Tahir Shah

We had the kind of conversations that only great friends can ever share. They were touched with magic. — Tahir Shah

Previous journeys in search of treasure have taught me that a zigzag strategy is the best way to get ahead. — Tahir Shah

As a travel writer I've specialized in gritty, fearful destinations, the kind of places that make a reader's hair stick on end. — Tahir Shah

It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa. — Tahir Shah

There are two ways to find a lost city. The first is to rely on luck alone, the second is to control all the information. — Tahir Shah

The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation. — Tahir Shah

On a hard jungle journey nothing is so important as having a team you can trust. — Tahir Shah

Contemplation is a luxury, requiring time and alternatives. — Tahir Shah

If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure. — Tahir Shah

My father looked on in disbelief, overwhelmed that his son had been taught to eat glass and relish it. — Tahir Shah

A man who embarks on a journey must know when to end it. — Tahir Shah

The desert was bad, but nothing could compare with the horrors of a tropical rain forest. — Tahir Shah

The rain of Madre de Dios is similar to that of the Amazon, but there is a petrifying aspect to it, as if it seeks to wound rather than to nurture. — Tahir Shah

To Succeed, you must reach for the stars, and let your imagination find its own path — Tahir Shah

Previous experience had taught me that any expedition marches on its stomach. — Tahir Shah

My journey to the land of the Shuar tribe had taught me the importance of practical gifts. — Tahir Shah

Running an expedition can bring out the worst in a man. It can make you a power-crazed monster. — Tahir Shah

Nothing is what it seems.
Favoured Pashtu proverb of Jan Fishan Khan. — Tahir Shah

Exploration is a dirty game. — Tahir Shah

Money spent on good-quality gear is always money well spent. — Tahir Shah

Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things. — Tahir Shah

The inertia of a jungle village is a dangerous thing. Before you know it your whole life has slipped by and you are still waiting there. — Tahir Shah

As far as I was concerned, a little danger of head-shrinking is a small price to pay in return for a people who have remained true to an ancient code. — Tahir Shah

I was becoming addicted to Bombay. There was squalor and poverty, but I had begun to realise my good fortune and would never again forget it. — Tahir Shah

My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind. — Tahir Shah

One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene. — Tahir Shah

There's nothing quite like a good quest for getting your blood pumping. — Tahir Shah

The porters could always be coaxed to continue a little further through driving rain by the mere suggestion of a Pot Noodle at the end. — Tahir Shah

Stories are not like the real world; they aren't held back by what we know is false or true. What's important is how a story makes you feel inside. — Tahir Shah

For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure. — Tahir Shah

Everyone knows that even the best exorcism has to be renewed once in a while. — Tahir Shah

In Morocco," said Osman, "word spreads like a fire tearing through the depths of Hell. — Tahir Shah

Moroccan traffic isn't like normal traffic. It's armed combat, a war of wills, in which only the very bravest have a chance to survive. — Tahir Shah

As I saw it, a little threatening was a good thing. It kept the men on their toes. — Tahir Shah