Tahir Shah Quotes

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

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

These days no one challenges us,' he said. 'And because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we have all become lazy.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

When I am about to embark on a difficult journey, I comfort myself by reading the accounts of the great nineteenth-century travellers, men like Stanley, Burton, Speke, Burckhardt and Barth.

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

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

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

Experience has taught me the power of trophies. You may have every knick-knack and useless contraption ever devised, but while they weigh you down, a simple trophy can go a long, long way.

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

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

The very fact that a Frenchman was prepared, after tow minutes of conversation, to be so friendly towards anyone, especially one who had come from England, made me restless.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ability to tell a good route from a terrible one is a valuable skill when leading an expedition. Unfortunately for us all, it was a skill I did not possess.

Through a strange kind of geographic arrogance, Europeans like to think that the world was a silent, dark, unknown place until they trooped out and discovered it.

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.

Exploration is a dirty game.

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.

Normally I would have been the first to go in search of cannibal monks, particularly as I had heard of a similar tradition at a nunnery in the Philippines. It's the sort of quest I can't resist.

Only a man who has his health, a full stomach and wears clean clothes would ever entertain the notion of tracking down the greatest lost city on Earth.

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

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

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.

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.

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

At the dealership, I pulled out the sieve and toyed with it threateningly. When the salesman was ready for me, I held it up, told him I was not a tourist and demanded a large discount.

The ants are bad" The Bear"the ants?"Tahir"Do not be fooled. They look very small, so harm you don't think of then at all. Then years. Then one day you wake up, and your home has fallen down." Osman.

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

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

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

Stories are a communal currency of humanity.

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

Venture to a remote corner of a faraway land and, from the moment you get there, every person and every thing becomes an obstacle, designed to entrap you, to stop you proceeding on your way.

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

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.

There is nothing like a train journey for reflection.

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

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