You define a good flight by negatives: you didnt get hijacked, you didnt crash, you didnt throw up, you werent late, you werent nauseated by the food. So you are grateful. – Paul Theroux
If youre a misanthrope you stay at home. There are certain writers who really dont like other people. Im not like that, I dont think. – Paul Theroux
When I was in the Peace Corps I never made a phone call. I was in Central Africa I didnt make a phone call for two years. I was in Uganda for another four years and I didnt make a phone call. So for six years I didnt make a phone call, but I wrote letters, I wrote short stories, I wrote books. – Paul Theroux
Mark Twain was a great traveler and he wrote three or four great travel books. I wouldnt say that Im a travel novelist but rather a novelist who travels – and who uses travel as a background for finding stories of places. – Paul Theroux