I don't think I've ever seen a person having a serious conversation on a cellphone. It's like a kiddie thing, a complete time waster.

In countries where all the crooked politicians wear pin-striped suits, the best people are bare-assed.

Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.

Extensive traveling induces a feeling of encapsulation, and travel, so broadening at first, contracts the mind.

I don't want to be the honored guest. I want to be the invisible person.

All politicians, even the most idealistic ones, are looking for money, sucking up to rich people.

Unless there is a strong sense of place there is no travel writing, but it need not come from topographical description; dialogue can also convey a sense of place. Even so, I insist, the traveler invents the place. Feeling compelled to comment on my travel books, people say to me, "I went there"---China, India, the Pacific, Albania-- "and it wasn't like that." I say, "Because I am not you.