Quotes from Tahir Shah

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

We may yearn for rustic detail and old-world charm, but those who have it set their minds on vinyl wallpaper, fitted carpets and all mod cons.

The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways.

For me, nature is something you watch on the Discovery Channel, or on the evening news -- as you learn how much more of it's been savaged to make way for the Blackberry realm that is my home

The inertia of a jungle village is a dangerous thing. Before you know it your whole life has slipped by and you are still waiting there.

Running an expedition can bring out the worst in a man. It can make you a power-crazed monster.

The rain of Madre de Dios is similar to that of the Amazon, but there is a petrifying aspect to it, as if it seeks to wound rather than to nurture.

Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones.

T]hrough bitter experience I have learned that it is best to promise little and then to reward hard work with generosity.

The desert was bad, but nothing could compare with the horrors of a tropical rain forest.

Money spent on good-quality gear is always money well spent.

Real terror is a crippling experience. You sweat so much that your skin goes all wrinkly like when you've been in the bath all afternoon. And then the scent of your sweat changes. It smells like cat pee, no doubt from the adrenalin. However hard you wash, it won't come off. It smothers you, as your muscles become frozen with acid and your mind paralysed by despair.

At the dealership, I pulled out the sieve and toyed with it threateningly. When the salesman was ready for me, I held it up, told him I was not a tourist and demanded a large discount.

Bombay is a city where gossip is treated as a commodity.

The mere mention of the Farakka Express, which jerks its way eastward each day from Delhi to Calcutta, is enough to throw even a seasoned traveller into fits of apoplexy. At a desert encampment on Namibia's Skeleton Coast, a hard-bitten adventurer had downed a peg of local fire-water then told me the tale. Farakka was a ghost train, he said, haunted by ghouls, Thuggees, and thieves. Only a passenger with a death wish would go anywhere near it.

The pursuit of illusion is not about studying for prizes, or for study's sake. There's no right or wrong, no pass or fail.

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.

What came next was a new experience for for both the fish and me

Everyone knows that even the best exorcism has to be renewed once in a while.

As far as I was concerned, a little danger of head-shrinking is a small price to pay in return for a people who have remained true to an ancient code.

Previous journeys in search of treasure have taught me that a zigzag strategy is the best way to get ahead.

In Morocco, before you even get to the matter of the sale, you have to coax the owner to sell.

The only thing they valued higher than ammunition were Man United footballs.

Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship.