"I cannot die before I set foot on these untrodden shores that rise from within my heart". Columbus by Nikos Kazantzakis
In a previous post I gathered together my top travel books to read and while those books are specifically about travelling and the misadventures one can get into, I thought I'd take a look at other writings, fiction and non-fiction, to see what various authors have said about travelling.
I found a common theme: many of these writers seem to seek themselves in other places, faces, and experiences; searching for themselves through travel.
So below, in no particular order, are a bunch of quotes on travel that will hopefully inspire folks to get back out there, experience the world again, and reflect on the why of travelling.
"At last, in those far off deserts, I finally knew that the observer is part of the subject..."
Lawrence, The Uncrowned King of Arabia by Michael Asher
From the opening pages of Michael Asher's biography of T.E. Lawrence.
A good reminder, not only of our responsibilities to each other and the places we visit when travelling, but of travel as search for oneself.
"Travelling and migration are evocative symbols of spiritual passage."
Holy War by Karen Armstrong
An unlikely line from a book called Holy War (which is about the crusades and their impact on today's world) but it makes sense when you think about travelling as a yearning for experience outside of the everyday.
"Out of the sea, as if Homer himself had arranged it for me, the islands bobbed up, lonely, deserted, mysterious in the fading light. I couldn't ask for more, nor did I want anything more. I had everything (anyone) could desire...I knew too that I might never have it again."
The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller
A bittersweet reminder that experience can be beautiful and fulfilling at the moment but fleeting, so savour the moment.
"I stopped by a red front door and felt an intense longing to spend the rest of my life there."
The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton
Who hasn't visited a place, humble or grand, and thought that they wanted to stay there forever.
"I look upon it (travel) as a spiritual journey...It brings us back to ourselves"
Notebooks 1935-1951 By Albert Camus
Camus' dourness mars the larger quote from which I've taken this but he seems to be saying that there is a need for travel to fix a perceived absence in oneself. A remark that I keep finding in other writers when they speak to travel
There was nowhere to go but everywhere so just keep on rolling under the stars."
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Wise advice to end on.
And I leave you with one last quote:
"...trust in the spirit of the journey..." - An Unexpected Light by Jason Elliot
Why do you travel?
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