Every time I took a long leave from home, I felt as if I were going to conquer the world. Or rather, take possession of what is my birthright, my inheritance.
Not only does travel give us a new system of reckoning, it also brings to the fore unknown aspects of our own self. Our consciousness being broadened and enriched, we shall judge ourselves more correctly.
I had to live in the desert before I could understand the full value of grass in a green ditch.
When I crossed Asia with my friend Peter Fleming, we spoke to no one but each other during many months, and we covered exactly the same ground. Nevertheless my journey differed completely from his.
I wanted to learn a few foreign languages, and therefore I had to go abroad.
Others are keen to see if natives other than us live better than we do, without heat in pipes, ice in boxes, sunshine in bulbs, music on disks, or images gliding over a pale screen.
We must develop a deeper interest and greater understanding of the people we meet here or abroad. Like us, they are passengers on board that mysterious ship called life.
The timelessness of a concept has to be woven into the running warp of dying time, vertical power has to be wedded to the horizontal earth.
One of the main points about travelling is to develop in us a feeling of solidarity, of that oneness without which no better world is possible.
The usual channels of university studies or secretarial work did not appeal to me. I cherished difficult dreams through confidence in myself.
Travel can also be the spirit of adventure somewhat tamed, for those who desire to do something they are a bit afraid of.
You can feel as brave as Columbus starting for the unknown the first time you enter a Chinese lane full of boys laughing at you, or when you risk climbing down in a Tibetan pub for a meal of rotten meat.
The true traveller is the one urged to move about for physical, aesthetic, intellectual as well as spiritual reasons.
Certain travellers give the impression that they keep moving because only then do they feel fully alive.
