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Tony Horwitz Quotes

Even aimless journeys have a purpose.

Even aimless journeys have a purpose.

Tony Horwitz
Journey, Purpose
Tony Horwitz (2010). “One for the Road: Revised Edition”, p.10, Vintage

I couldn't think of another city in the world that lined its streets with stone leviathans honoring failed rebels against the state.

Tony Horwitz
Thinking, Cities, Rebel
Tony Horwitz (2010). “Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War”, p.247, Vintage

There are people one knows and people one doesn't. One shouldn't cheapen the former by feigning intimacy with the latter.

Tony Horwitz
People, Intimacy, Latter
Tony Horwitz (2010). “Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War”, p.151, Vintage

I am an agnostic on most matters of faith, but on the subjects of maps I have always been a true believer. It is on the map, therefore it is, and I am.

Tony Horwitz
Maps, Matter, Agnostic
Tony Horwitz (2010). “One for the Road: Revised Edition”, p.55, Vintage

The past was a consumable, subject to the national preference for familiar products. And history, in America, is a dish best served plain. The first course could include a dollop of Italian in 1492, but not Spanish spice or French sauce or too much Indian corn. Nothing too filling or fancy ahead of the turkey and pumpkin pie, just the way Grandma used to cook it.

Tony Horwitz
Grandma, Italian, Past
Tony Horwitz (2008). “A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World”, Henry Holt and Company

During a mock battle attended by President Warren Harding in 1921, Marine Corps General Smedley D. Butler exhumed the arm [of Stonewall Jackson; he didn't believe it was buried there] and reburied it in a metal box.

Tony Horwitz
War, Believe, Marine

Egyptians undergo an odd personality change behind the wheel of a car. In every other setting, aggression and impatience are frowned upon. The unofficial Egyptian anthem "Bokra, Insha'allah, Malesh" (Tomorrow, God Willing, Never Mind) isn't just an excuse for laziness. In a society requiring millennial patience, it is also a social code dictating that no one make too much of a fuss about things. But put an Egyptian in the driver's seat and he shows all the calm and consideration of a hooded swordsman delivering Islamic justice.

Tony Horwitz
Islamic, Justice, Car

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