Top 126 Quotes by Paul Theroux

About Paul Theroux

These are some quotes by American author Paul Theroux Novelist, who was born on April 10, 1941.

I have always felt that the truth is prophetic, and that if you describe precisely what you see and give it life with your imagination, then what you write ought to have lasting value, no matter what the mood of your prose.

Paul Theroux

I think there is only one way to write fiction - alone, in a room, without interruption or any distraction.

I think there is only one way to write fiction - alone, in a room, without interruption or any distraction.

Paul Theroux

I grew up in an era of thinking of travel as escape. The idea that you could conceivably have a new life, go somewhere, fall in love, have little children under the palm trees.

I grew up in an era of thinking of travel as escape. The idea that you could conceivably have a new life, go somewhere, fall in love, have little children under the palm trees.

Paul Theroux

Television cannot film corruption. Television cannot spend five days on a rattling railway train, talking endlessly. Television needs excitement, it needs an angle, it needs a 'sound bite.

Television cannot film corruption. Television cannot spend five days on a rattling railway train, talking endlessly. Television needs excitement, it needs an angle, it needs a 'sound bite.

Paul Theroux

My father had an invisible job outside of the house; I didn't know what he did. But my kids were privy to the ups and downs of a writer's life.

My father had an invisible job outside of the house; I didn't know what he did. But my kids were privy to the ups and downs of a writer's life.

Paul Theroux

The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.

The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.

Paul Theroux

The United States is a world unto itself. We have mountains, we have deserts, we have a river that equals the Yangtze River, that equals the Nile. We have the greatest cities in the world - among the greatest cities in the world.

Paul Theroux

People write about getting sick, they write about tummy trouble, they write about having to wait for a bus. They write about waiting. They write three pages about how long it took them to get a visa. I'm not interested in the boring parts. Everyone has tummy trouble. Everyone waits in line. I don't want to hear about it.

Paul Theroux

To me, writing is a considered act. It's something which is a great labor of thought and consideration.

To me, writing is a considered act. It's something which is a great labor of thought and consideration.

Paul Theroux

I wouldn't say that I'm a travel novelist, but rather a novelist who travels - and who uses travel as a background for finding stories of places.

I wouldn't say that I'm a travel novelist, but rather a novelist who travels - and who uses travel as a background for finding stories of places.

Paul Theroux

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