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It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa.

Tahir Shah

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Tahir Shah
Age: 58
Born: 1966
Born: November 16
Author
Comedian
Explorer
Journalist
Novelist
Writer
London
England
Middle
Overemphasize
Almost
Ancestry
Africa
North
Held
East
Importance
Impossible

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In Morocco, before you even get to the matter of the sale, you have to coax the owner to sell.
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There's nothing like a pack of mules to give one a sense of entourage.
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I felt sure we could gain the upper hand by putting ourselves in the mindset of the Incas.
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I was no longer troubled when he pulled out a machete in a crowded bar, tried to pick up schoolgirls, or threatened to scalp us, then rip off our heads and scoop out our brains.
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Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones.
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There can be few situations more fearful than breaking down in darkness on the highway leading to Casablanca. I have rarely felt quite so vulnerable or alone.
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During the days I felt myself slipping into a kind of madness. Solitary confinement has an astonishing effect on the mind. The trip was to stay calm and keep myself occupied. I spent hours working out how to break free. But trying to escape would have been instant suicide.
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For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure.
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If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure.
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Most journeys have a clear beginning, but on some the ending is less well-defined. The question is, at what point do you bite your lip and head for home?
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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.
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The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways.
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Contemplation is a luxury, requiring time and alternatives.
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Spend sixteen weeks in the jungle and you being to question your own sanity, especially when you are the one goading everyone else ahead.
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Once in a very long time you come across a book that is far, far more than the ink, the glue and the paper, a book that seeps into your blood.
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In India everything has a use and a value.
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Stories are not like the real world they aren't held back by what we know is false or true. What's important is how a story makes you feel inside.
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These days no one challenges us,' he said. 'And because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we have all become lazy.
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Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship.
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The very fact that a Frenchman was prepared, after two minutes of conversation, to be so friendly towards anyone, especially one who had come from England, made me restless.
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