I'm constantly running across people who have never heard of books I think they should read.

... the grand tour is just the inspired man's way of heading home.

Reading liberates you. You could know about the world through reading.

Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.

"Connected" is the triumphal cry these days. Connection has made people arrogant, impatient, hasty, and presumptuous... I don't doubt that instant communication has been good for business, even for the publishing business, but it has done nothing for literature, and might even have harmed it. In many ways connection has been disastrous. We have confused information (of which there is too much) with ideas (of which there are too few). I found out much more about the world and myself by being unconnected.

I don't think that it's possible to have a truly rewarding experience in travel if it's simple.

Loneliness in travel directs you and tells you about yourself. You don't become lonely unless you're alone.