The Peace Corps is a sort of Howard Johnson's on the main drag into maturity.

Airplanes have dulled and desensitized us; we are encumbered, like lovers in a suit of armor.

I'm a tourist, a glorified tourist. I'm not doing it to have a good time or to lie in the sun.

Indian enterprises seemed to work so well they produced disasters; success made them burst at the seams and the disruption of unprecedented orders led to shortages and finally failure.

Reading alters the appearance of a book. Once it has been read, it never looks the same again, and people leave their individual imprint on a book they have read. Once of the pleasures of reading is seeing this alteration on the pages, and the way, by reading it, you have made the book yours.

Delay and dirt are the realities of the most rewarding travel.

I never stay with people and I never look people up when I travel. I depend more on just chance meetings. The advantage is that people don't know who I am. I meet people casually and they're not doing me a big favor because I'm going to write something.