Tahir Shah quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Tahir Shah

Tahir Shah Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Tahir Shah 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

There is nothing like a train journey for reflection.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In India everything has a use and a value.

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.

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

With an enthusiastic team you can achieve almost anything.

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

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

A little imagination goes a long way in Fes.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Bombay is a city where gossip is treated as a commodity.

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

Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.

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.

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.

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

Stories are a communal currency of humanity.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Contemplation is a luxury, requiring time and alternatives.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Exploration is a dirty game.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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