Quotes by Tahir Shah

I struggled to think pure thoughts, as Hector sucked out my psyche with his eyes.

The ability to tell a good route from a terrible one is a valuable skill when leading an expedition. Unfortunately for us all, it was a skill I did not possess.

As the head of an expedition, you cant pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in a while; a little growling goes a long way.

Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.

Through a strange kind of geographic arrogance, Europeans like to think that the world was a silent, dark, unknown place until they trooped out and discovered it.

There are two ways to find a lost city. The first is to rely on luck alone, the second is to control all the information.

Exploration is a dirty game.

The situation was different in the jungle. Every inch of ground had to be earned, and was done so through much exertion with the blade.

Normally I would have been the first to go in search of cannibal monks, particularly as I had heard of a similar tradition at a nunnery in the Philippines. Its the sort of quest I cant resist.

Only a man who has his health, a full stomach and wears clean clothes would ever entertain the notion of tracking down the greatest lost city on Earth.

In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense.

Previous experience had taught me that any expedition marches on its stomach.

The porters could always be coaxed to continue a little further through driving rain by the mere suggestion of a Pot Noodle at the end.

Ours was not going to be a clone of the usual expeditions, oozing with sleekness. It was clear from the start that oddity was our advantage.

My journey to the land of the Shuar tribe had taught me the importance of practical gifts.

If hot food is they key to maintaining an expeditions stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure.

Back at the guest house I tried to acclimatise. A travel-worn adventurer had once told me that leaning with ones head dangling over the end of a bed was the best way to achieve this. It was while I was in this position, the blood rushing to my temples, that the door swung open.

Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you reach a glorious plateau. Wearing those shoes is like wearing no shoes at all. The more scuffed they get, the more you love them and the more you cant imagine life without them.

My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.

For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories.