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

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

“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.”