John Harris > Quotes

“Work is a four letter word. It conjures up the same image the world over getting up in the morning to do something you don't want to do, day in day out. After a few months work, or years, depending on the person's primeval yearning for freedom, you feel like a robot: alarm clock, get up, wash, catch the train, work, go home, watch TV, go to bed. In that one sentence I've probably just described the daily routine of 95% of the working population of England. It's the same in every other developed country in the world. Routine is the cause of most marriage break ups and social discontent.”
― John Harris, The Backpacker

“I think fear keeps people in mundane lives. Fear of freedom, fear of loneliness; it's a powerful opium.”
― John Harris

“If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth -- beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals -- would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals?”
― John Harris, Animals, Men, and Morals: An Enquiry into the Maltreatment of Non-Humans

“Firstly, although daily actions remained constant, the people around me changed. New backpackers would arrive and leave Hat Rin every week, and either said they were staying long-term and did, or said they were only staying for a few days but ended up not being able to leave. The latter was usually the case.

The second, more obvious difference between now and then was the nature of my daily routine. For the first time in my life my reason for waking up in the morning was just that: to wake up. If i didn't want to, nobody was saying I had to. If I wanted to go to the beach I'd wake up and go to the beach. If I wanted to mess around with Rick and Dave all day long in the jungle, that's what I'd do. That's not to say I didn't get bored, but when boredom did set in, I just did something else. When you work, you don't have that option.”
― John Harris, The Backpacker

“So, in what we considered the true spirit of freedom and the timeless nature of our travel plans, a few months after the sacrifice of Dave's airline ticket, the three of us ceremoniously burnt our watches, too.”
― John Harris, The Backpacker

“I tried to focus on my toes, looking for answers to the questions swirling around in my head, wondering if my reasons for traveling were the right ones, whether I shouldn't be at home doing a job like everyone else I knew. But the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous all the money chasing seemed. I had very little cash, none of us had, but we were the happiest people alive; we hadn't stopped grinning since we'd met. Everyday was different, often spent with different people from every conceivable background, and usually in a new place, which I loved.”
― John Harris, The Backpacker

“It's the compass; not just the little head ruling the big head, though that's part of it. It's the natural instinct of following your heart, your eyes, to move from place to place, country to country, and do what you feel inside, to find out what you feel inside. How can you find yourself if you stay in your country of birth? It's important, vital, to stand aside and take a look from a different angle, to look with a fresh pair of eyes.”
― John Harris, The Backpacker

“Does anyone really know their friends? Close friends even? Can you really say, hand on heart, that you know what your pal's thinking, even if you've known them intimately all their life?”
― John Harris, The Trial of Maximo Bonga

“(...) in Britpop's fetishisation of chart positions, platinum discs and huge crowds, (Tony Blair) surely saw the same impulses that informed his own rise to power. Principles, it seemed, were secondary to popularity.”
― John Harris

“Get a proper trade, get some good tools and you're set for life. You'll never be out of work anywhere in the world. Look after your tools and they'll look after you.”
― John Harris, The Trial of Maximo Bonga