Tahir Shah > Quotes

“My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you reach a glorious plateau. Wearing those shoes is like wearing no shoes at all. The more scuffed they get, the more you love them and the more you can't imagine life without them.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“A journey, I reflected, is of no merit unless it has tested you.”
― Tahir Shah, In Search of King Solomon's Mines

“The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“Stories are a communal currency of humanity.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.”
― Tahir Shah, Travels With Myself

“My father used to tell me that stories offer the listener a chance to escape but, more importantly, he said, they provide people with a chance to maximize their minds. Suspend ordinary constraints, allow the imagination to be freed, and we are charged with the capability of heighetned thought.
Learn to use your eyes as if they are your ears, he said, and you become connected with the ancient heritage of man, a dream world for the waking mind.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“Usually, there is nothing more pleasing that returning to a place where you have endured hardship.”
― Tahir Shah, In Search of King Solomon's Mines

“Stories are not like the real world; they aren't held back by what we know is false or true. What's important is how a story makes you feel inside.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“With an enthusiastic team you can achieve almost anything.”
― Tahir Shah

“Respect was one thing. Survival was another. It was important that I kept my priorities in the right order.”
― Tahir Shah, Sorcerer's Apprentice

“Real travel is not about the highlights with which you dazzle your friends once you're home. It's about the loneliness, the solitude, the evenings spent by yourself, pining to be somewhere else. Those are the moments of true value. You feel half proud of them and half ashamed and you hold them to your heart.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“On a hard jungle journey nothing is so important as having a team you can trust.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“Believe, and what was impossible becomes possible what at first was hidden becomes visible.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“The backstreet cafe in Casablanca was for me a place of mystery, a place with a soul, a place with danger. There was a sense that the safety nets had been cut away, that each citizen walked upon the high wire of this, the real world. I longed not merely to travel through it, but to live in such a city.”
― Tahir Shah, The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca

“Most journeys have a clear beginning, but on some the ending is less well-defined. The question is, at what point do you bite your lip and head for home?”
― Tahir Shah, In Search of King Solomon's Mines

“To Succeed, you must reach for the stars, and let your imagination find its own path”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“Through a strange kind of geographic arrogance, Europeans like to think that the world was a silent, dark, unknown place until they trooped out and discovered it.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“There is nothing like a train journey for reflection.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“During the days I felt myself slipping into a kind of madness. Solitary confinement has an astonishing effect on the mind. The trip was to stay calm and keep myself occupied. I spent hours working out how to break free. But trying to escape would have been instant suicide.”
― Tahir Shah, Travels With Myself

“There comes a stage at which a man would rather die cleanly by a bullet than by the unknown terror of the phantom in the forest.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“My father never told us how the stories worked. He didn't reveal the layers, the nuggets of information, the fragments of truth and fantasy. He didn't need to -- because, given the right conditions, the stories activated, sowing themselves.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“We had the kind of conversations that only great friends can ever share. They were touched with magic.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“Previous journeys had taught me the danger of taking too much stuff.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“A journey of observation must leave as much as possible to chance. Random movement is the best plan for maximum observation”
― Tahir Shah, Sorcerer's Apprentice

“As the head of an expedition, you can't pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in a while; a little growling goes a long way.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“Nothing was really so important to my father as the achievement of selflessness. He rarely mentioned it directly, but tried to guide us to it in a roundabout way.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“On a harsh expedition, there's no space for anyone who does not intend to finish.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King : The Quest for a Lost City

“These days no one challenges us,' he said. 'And because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we have all become lazy.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams