Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.
A novel captures essence that is not possible in any other form.
They say that if the Swiss had designed these mountains they'd be rather flatter.
Luxury is the enemy of observation, a costly indulgence that induces such a good feeling that you notice nothing. Luxury spoils and infantilizes you and prevents you from knowing the world.
Reading liberates you. You could know about the world through reading.
It is fatal to know too much at the outcome: boredom comes as quickly to the traveler who knows his route as to the novelist who is over certain of his plot.