People talk about the pain of writing, but very few people talk about the pleasure and satisfaction. Paul Theroux painpeoplepleasure Change image and share on social
I was raised in a large family. The first reason for my travel was to get away from my family. I knew that I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't want people to ask me questions about it. Paul Theroux familyknowlarge Change image and share on social
The impulse to write comes, I think, from a desire - perhaps a need - to give imaginative life to experience, to share it with the reader, not to cover up the truth but to deliver it obliquely. Paul Theroux coverdeliverdesire Change image and share on social
I'm not pessimistic about Africa. The cities just seem big and hopeless. But there's still a great green heart where there's possibility. There's hope in the wilderness. Paul Theroux africabigcity Change image and share on social
My greatest inspiration is memory. Paul Theroux greatinspirationmemory Change image and share on social
The two impulses in travel are to get away from home, and the other is to pursue something - a landscape, people, an exotic place. Certainly finding a place that you like or discovering something unusual is a very sustaining thing in travel. Paul Theroux discoverexoticfind share on social
I was kind of raised with the suggestion that I had a duty to do; that life was real, life was earnest. And I hated that, actually. I needed to be liberated, to be told that I could live the life that I wanted to live; that I didn't need a job, or to be shouted at; that I could be myself; that I could be happy. Paul Theroux dutyearnesthappy share on social
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 downfatherhouse Change image and share on social
If you're a misanthrope you stay at home. There are certain writers who really don't like other people. I'm not like that, I don't think. Paul Theroux homemisanthropepeople Change image and share on social