Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux
Paul Edward Therouxis an American travel writer and novelist, whose best-known work is The Great Railway Bazaar. He has published numerous works of fiction, some of which were adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth10 April 1941
CountryUnited States of America
jobs taken pride
A gun show is about like-minded people who feel as if everything has been taken away from them - jobs, money, pride.
order class people
The larger an English industry was, the more likely it was to go bankrupt, because the English were not naturally corporate people; they disliked working for others and they seemed to resent taking orders. On the whole, directors were treated absurdly well, and workers badly, and most industries were weakened by class suspicion and false economies and cynicism. But the same qualities that made English people seem stubborn and secretive made them, face to face, reliable and true to their word. I thought: The English do small things well and big things badly.
want
You can't want to be a writer. You have to be one.
airplane suits-of-armor lovers
Airplanes have dulled and desensitized us; we are encumbered, like lovers in a suit of armor.
tired might london
A person who is tired of London is not necessarily tired of life; it might be that he just can’t find a parking place.
matter no-matter-what visiting
All places, no matter where, no matter what, are worth visiting.
wonderful sore-throat traveler
A French traveler with a sore throat is a wonderful thing to behold, but it takes more than tonsillitis to prevent a Frenchman from boasting.
unexpected now-and-then traveler
Now and then in travel, something unexpected happens that transforms the whole nature of the trip and stays with the traveler.
passion thinking love-is
I think I understand passion. Love is something else.
travel memorable stories
Going slowly [...] was the best way of being reminded that there is a relationship between Here and There, and that travel narrative was the story of There and Back.
reality dirt delay
Delay and dirt are the realities of the most rewarding travel.
travel upset bazaars
Railways are irresistible bazaars, snaking along perfectly level no matter what the landscape, improving your mood with speed, and never upsetting your drink.
writing thinking childhood
When I write about my childhood I think, oh my God, how did I ever get from there to here? Not that any great thing has happened to me. But I felt so tiny, so lost.
dad writing gone
When I started writing, I did have some idealised notion of my dad as a writer. But I have less and less of a literary rivalry with him as I've gone on. I certainly don't feel I need his approval, although maybe that's because I'm confident that I've got it.