Paul Theroux Quotes

You may not know it but I'm no good at coping with all the attention in the luxury hotels I sometimes find myself in. - Paul Theroux

You define a good flight by negatives: you didn't get hijacked, you didn't crash, you didn't throw up, you weren't late, you weren't nauseated by the food. So you are grateful. - Paul Theroux

You can't write about a friend, you can only write about a former friend. - Paul Theroux

Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves. - Paul Theroux

When I write about my childhood I think, oh my God, how did I ever get from there to here? Not that any great thing has happened to me. But I felt so tiny, so lost. - Paul Theroux

When I went to Hong Kong, I knew at once I wanted to write a story set there. - Paul Theroux

When I was in the Peace Corps I never made a phone call. I was in Central Africa; I didn't make a phone call for two years. I was in Uganda for another four years and I didn't make a phone call. So for six years I didn't make a phone call, but I wrote letters, I wrote short stories, I wrote books. - Paul Theroux

When I started writing, I did have some idealised notion of my dad as a writer. But I have less and less of a literary rivalry with him as I've gone on. I certainly don't feel I need his approval, although maybe that's because I'm confident that I've got it. - Paul Theroux

When I left Africa in 1966 it seemed to me to be a place that was developing, going in a particular direction, and I don't think that is the case now. And it's a place where people still kid themselves - you know, in a few years this will happen or that will happen. Well, it's not going to happen. It's never going to happen. - Paul Theroux

When I began to make some money, I really wanted to have a home. - Paul Theroux

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