Quotes About Exploration

It seemed to me an odd view to take - rather as if one should protest that one didn't LIKE the idea of dying or being born. I preferred the notion of finding out first how it would be, and then doing what one could about the parts of it one disliked most.

In my experience,' he told me, 'if you run away from a thing just because you don't like it, you don't like what you find either.

once we had developed intelligence we weren't satisfied with the world as we found it;

after all, what is a planet but an island in space?

In my experience,' he told me, 'if you run away from a thing just because you don't like it you don't know what you find either. Now running to a thing, that's a different matter, but what would you want to run to?

It's a tricky balancing act, finding that point between safety and danger where you can feel both secure and adventurous. I used to read books about fishing by people who had given up jobs and careers to show up every day at a trout stream. What made them do it? They realized, after years of fortifying the walls, of making life safe and secure, that they also needed what was on the other side.

She could not go on a bus without having an adventure, usually brought about by not minding her own business, and there was always some curious incident to relate to Vinny when he returned home in the evening.

La catastrofe de la vejez residía en no atreverse a ir a cualquier parte, en resignarse a perder la libertad

Walking] is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.

I need complicated railroad journeys and people speaking to me in foreign languages to keep me happy. I want to see the world and write stories about everything I see.

Joy of Backpacking,

Elizabeth Yates

Every time I took a long leave from home, I felt as if I were going to conquer the world. Or rather, take possession of what is my birthright, my inheritance.

One travels to run away from routine, that dreadful routine that kills all imagination and all our capacity for enthusiasm.

Travel can also be the spirit of adventure somewhat tamed, for those who desire to do something they are a bit afraid of.

Certain travellers give the impression that they keep moving because only then do they feel fully alive.

Not only does travel give us a new system of reckoning, it also brings to the fore unknown aspects of our own self. Our consciousness being broadened and enriched, we shall judge ourselves more correctly.

One travels to learn once more how to marvel at life in the way a child does.

You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown, you travel for the unknown, that reveals you with yourself.

We travelled with a bookshelf fixed above the back of our seat. The poor books were shaken madly during all these days, but we rejoiced to be able to lay our hand on the right volume at the right moment. Rubbing against each other were Marco Polo, Pelliot, Evans-Wentz, Vivekananda, Maritain, Jung, a life of Alexander the Great, Grousset, the Zend-Avesta. I picked The Darvishes by John P. Brown and H. A. Rose, and read aloud a passage about Jalal-ud-din Rumi.

When we tire of well-worn ways, we seek for new. This restless craving in the souls of men spurs them to climb, and to seek the mountain view.

If she didn't go, she'd wonder

Out the plane's window, flatlands had given way to the rough and rumpled chaos of mountain peaks and alpine valleys.

The map led us over civilization's ragged rim, to the edge of the Northwest's boreal forests. Evening came on all at once, the sky's last light choked out by old growth pines and cypress lining the roads like shaggy towers. Our