“I wouldn't say that I'm a travel novelist, but rather a novelist who t...” — Paul Theroux Quote

“I wouldn't say that I'm a travel novelist, but rather a novelist who travels - and who uses travel as a background for finding stories of places.”

“The impulse to write comes, I think, from a desire - perhaps a need - to give imaginative life to experience, to share it with the reader, not to cover up the truth but to deliver it obliquely.”

“The appeal of travel books is also the sense that you are different, an outsider, almost like the Robinson Crusoe or Christopher Columbus notion of being the first person in a new place.”

“I am learning that in life it is OK to travel in darkness, not knowing what your next move is.”

“After a lifetime of world travel I've been fascinated that those in the third world don't have the same perception of reality that we do.”

“I've done it the hard way - first Olympic gold medallist from Great Britain to win a world title, the 'road warrior.' I love that tag because I do travel.”