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

Tahir Shah

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Tahir Shah
Age: 58
Born: 1966
Born: November 16
Author
Comedian
Explorer
Journalist
Novelist
Writer
London
England
Ordinary
Taste
Ways
Way
Make
Men
Behave
Extraordinary
Glory

More quotes by Tahir Shah

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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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In India everything has a use and a value.
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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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I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.
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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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One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene.
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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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In Morocco, before you even get to the matter of the sale, you have to coax the owner to sell.
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To be selfless, you would give charity anonymously, walj softly on the earth, and look out for others-even total strangers-before you look out for yourself. For the Arab mind, the self is an obstacle, an impediment, in humanity's quest foe real progress.
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Foras Road has a sordid reputation (…) Old crones sat in doorways, while their daughters were pushed out to earn money. It is intriguing that a society which is very covert with sexuality should be so straightforward about prostitution.
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A man who embarks on a journey must know when to end it.
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There is nothing quite as unpleasant as wearing a pair of briefs which have been trailed through a Calcutta courtyard. Nothing, that is, except having one's elbows and knees lacerated by unseen slivers of glass and discarded razor blades.
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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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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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Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.
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There’s nothing quite like a good quest for getting your blood pumping.
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For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories.
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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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On a harsh expedition, there's no space for anyone who does not intend to finish.
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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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