“The sad engineer would never go back to England; he would become one of these elderly expatriates who hide out in remote countries, with odd sympathies, a weakness for the local religion, an unreasonable anger, and the kind of total recall that drives curious strangers away. ”

“You go away for a long time and return a different person - you never come all the way back.”

“Most travel, and certainly the rewarding kind, involves depending on the kindness of strangers, putting yourself into the hands of people you don't know and trusting them with your life.”

“Mimicry reassures the weak, and the envious fool takes the risk as often as the visionary who mocks the error and leave the man alone.”

“Going slowly [...] was the best way of being reminded that there is a relationship between Here and There, and that travel narrative was the story of There and Back.”

“One thinks one is going to the tropics and one finds oneself in the Chinese version of Welwyn Garden City.”

“In countries where all the crooked politicians wear pinstriped suits, the best people are bare-assed.”