quotations about travel
A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
Letters from a Citizen of the World
He who is everywhere is nowhere.
SENECA THE YOUNGER
Epistolae Ad Lucilium
Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
attributed, Disraeli
People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.
ST. AUGUSTINE
Confessions
Every mile of travel is like the disinterment of a buried city.
ANONYMOUS
Appleton's Journal, January-June 1878
To be a good traveller ... a sweet landscape must sometimes be allowed to atone for an indifferent supper, and an interesting ruin charm away the remembrance of a hard bed.
HENRY T. TUCKERMAN
"The Philosophy of Travel", The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, May 1844
Know most of the rooms of thy native country before thou goest over the threshold thereof.
THOMAS FULLER
The Holy State and the Profane State
The good thing about travel is that it takes you to new and different places. The bad thing about travel is that it takes you to new and different places.
DIANE
attributed, Sleepless in America
Travel is intensified living--maximum thrills per minute and one of the last great sources of legal adventure. Travel is freedom. It's recess, and we need it.
RICK STEVES
Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door
Travel is like an endless university. You never stop learning.
HARVEY LLOYD
Cruise Travel, April 1985
Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.
KURT VONNEGUT, JR.
Cat's Cradle
Travel, then, is a voyage into that famously subjective zone, the imagination, and what the traveler brings back is -- and has to be -- an ineffable compound of himself and the place, what's really there and what's only in him.
PICO IYER
"Why We Travel"
Travel is like a game; there is always gain or loss, and mostly from the unexpected side; you receive more or less than you hope for; you can, with impunity, loiter along for a while, then you are again obliged to gather yourself up a moment. For natures like mine, that like to establish themselves firmly and hold fast to things, a journey is invaluable; it animates, instructs and cultivates.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
letter to Friedrich Schiller, October 14, 1797
All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own, and if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
To travel is to live.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The Fairy Tale of My Life
I don't keep a travel diary. I did keep a travel diary once and it was a big mistake. All I remember of that trip is what I bothered to write down. Everything else slipped away, as though my mind felt jilted by my reliance on pen and paper. For exactly the same reason I don't travel with a camera. My holiday becomes the snapshots and anything I forget to record is lost.
ALEX GARLAND
The Beach
Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
TERRY PRATCHETT
A Hat Full of Sky
If I'd learnt one thing from travelling, it was that the way to get things done was to go ahead and do them. Don't talk about going to Borneo. Book a ticket, get a visa, pack a bag, and it just happens.
ALEX GARLAND
The Beach
Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour
When I was at home, I was in a better place; but travellers must be content.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
As You Like It