quotations about travel
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
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
For many of us, change is the biggest motivation for travel. We have a need for novel scenery, routine, weather or even people.
BLAKE SNOW
"Off The Grid: Why Do We Travel?", Paste Magazine, May 16, 2017
Travel not too fast, if you would learn.
PETER RAMUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Left Hand of Darkness
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
Travel is like adultery: one is always tempted to be unfaithful to one's own country.
ANATOLE BROYARD
attributed, Voyages of Discovery
The traveler, however virginal and enthusiastic, does not enjoy an unbroken ecstasy. He has periods of gloom, periods when he asks himself the object of all these exertions, and puts the question whether or not he is really experiencing pleasure. At such times he suspects that he is not seeing the right things, that the characteristics, the right aspects of these strange scenes are escaping him. He looks forward dully to the days of his holiday yet to pass, and wonders how he will dispose of them. He is disgusted because his money is not more, his command of the language so slight, and his capacity for enjoyment so limited.
ARNOLD BENNETT
attributed, Voyages of Discovery
Our object in traveling should be, not to gratify curiosity, and seek mere temporary amusement, but to learn, and to venerate, to improve the understanding and the heart.
NIGEL GRESLEY
attributed, American Medical Association Bulletin, 1933
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
To me, travel is a great way of bringing in fresh ideas. Since nature is my muse, I get bigger and better ideas when I see more of the world.
RANGA VOONA
"PhotoSparks", YourStory, May 6, 2017
Soulful travel is the art of finding beauty even in ruins.
PHIL COUSINEAU
The Art of Pilgrimage
Every mile you travel, is like the one left behind.
LES HUGHES
A Young Australian Pioneer
New situations inspire new thoughts. Here is the benefit of travelling, much more than in mere sight-seeing. We lose ourselves in the streets of our own city, and go abroad to find ourselves.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before. How can there be any adventure, any exploration, if you let somebody else -- above all, a travel bureau -- arrange everything before-hand?
RICHARD ALDINGTON
Death of a Hero
When one is traveling, everything looks brighter and lovelier. That does not mean it IS brighter and lovelier; it just means that sweet, kindly home suffers in comparison to tarted-up foreign places with all their jewels on.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.
CHINUA ACHEBE
Arrow of God
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 possess the world.
E. BURTON HOLMES
American Review of Reviews, December 1907
Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour