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Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux Quotes

Film writer

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Famous Paul Theroux Quotes

“So far I had been travelling alone with my handbook and my Western Railway timetable: I was happiest finding my own way and did not require a liaison man. It had been my intention to stay on the train, without bothering about arriving anywhere: sight-seeing was a way of passing the time, but, as I had concluded in Istanbul, it was an activity very largely based on imaginative invention, like rehearsing your own play in stage sets from which all the actors had fled.”

MenWayPlayActorsMy OwnSeeingStageActivityFindingsSightTrainIntentionWesternInventionPassingPassingsBotherImaginativeArrivingRailwayIstanbulRehearsingTimetablesLiaison
Book:The great railway bazaar: by train through Asia
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“"Connected" is the triumphal cry these days. Connection has made people arrogant, impatient, hasty, and presumptuous... I don't doubt that instant communication has been good for business, even for the publishing business, but it has done nothing for literature, and might even have harmed it. In many ways connection has been disastrous. We have confused information (of which there is too much) with ideas (of which there are too few). I found out much more about the world and myself by being unconnected.”

PeopleWorldWayHas BeensMadeIdeasDoneMightFoundLiteratureDoubtToo MuchCryInformationCommunicationConnectionsThese DaysInstantConfusedArrogantPublishingImpatientHastyPresumptuousInstant Communication
Author:Paul Theroux
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“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.”

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Book:The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas
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“In a way, Che Guevara's fate was far worse than Simon Bolivar's. Guevara's collapse was complete: his intentions were forgotten, but his style was taken up by boutique owners (one of the fanciest clothes stores in London is called Che Guevara). There is no faster way of destroying a man or mocking his ideas than making him fashionable. That Che succeeded in influencing dress-designers was part of his tragedy.”

MenWayIdeasTakenFateInfluenceStyleClothesTragedyDressesIntentionForgottenLondonStoresFasterDesignerOwnersDestroyingCollapseFashionable
Author:Paul Theroux
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