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

Travel works best when you're forced to come to terms with the place you're in.

One of the upsides of tourism is that people begin to take themselves a little more seriously (and think their) culture is worth something. So rather than disparaging the local culture, they vitalize it.

travel [is] flight and pursuit in equal parts.

I know there are writers who feel unhappy with domesticity and who even manufacture domestic turmoil in order to have something to write about. With me, though, the happier I feel, the better I write.

One of the pleasures of reading is seeing this alteration on the pages, and the way, by reading it, you have made the book yours.

You can't want to be a writer. You have to be one.