Travel sharpens the senses. Abroad one feels, sees and hears things in an abnormal way.

So many bright futures consigned to the ashes of the past.So many dreams lost in the madness that had engulfed us.Except for a few widely scattered shouts of joy,the survivors of the abyss sat hollow-eyed and silent, trying to comprehend a world without war.

Travelers learn not just foreign customs and curious cuisines and unfamiliar beliefs and novel forms of government. They learn, if they are lucky, humility.

A more or less accurate measure of class in America is TV size: the bigger your TV, the lower your class.

All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel

Understanding the past requires pretending that you don't know the present.

The middles cleave to euphemisms not just because they're an aid in avoiding facts. They like them also because they assist their social yearnings towards pomposity. This is possible because most euphemisms permit the speaker to multiply syllables, and the middle class confuses sheer numerousness with weight and value.