Tahir Shah Quotes

With an enthusiastic team you can achieve almost anything.

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

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

A little imagination goes a long way in Fes.

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

Real travel is not about the highlights with which you dazzle your friends once you're home. It's about the loneliness, the solitude, the evenings spent by yourself, pining to be somewhere else. Those are the moments of true value. You feel half proud of them and half ashamed and you hold them to your heart.

Contemplation is a luxury, requiring time and alternatives.

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

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

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

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

I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Most journeys have a clear beginning, but on some the ending is less well-defined. The question is, at what point do you bite your lip and head for home?

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

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

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