quotations about travel
All our journeys are rhapsodies on the theme of discovery. We travel as seekers after answers we cannot find at home, and soon find that a change of climate is easier than a change of heart. The bittersweet truth about travel is embedded in the word, which derives from the older word travail, itself rooted in the Latin tripalium, a medieval torture rack.
PHIL COUSINEAU
The Art of Pilgrimage
Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
attributed, Disraeli
Travel is like an endless university. You never stop learning.
HARVEY LLOYD
Cruise Travel, April 1985
A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
Letters from a Citizen of the World
You should visit before you pass judgement on a place.
TANITH LEE
The Castle of Dark
A wise traveller never despises his own country.
CARLO GOLDONI
attributed, Day's Collacon
Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
TERRY PRATCHETT
A Hat Full of Sky
The traveler, however virginal and enthusiastic, does not enjoy an unbroken ecstasy. He has periods of gloom, periods when he asks himself the object of all these exertions, and puts the question whether or not he is really experiencing pleasure. At such times he suspects that he is not seeing the right things, that the characteristics, the right aspects of these strange scenes are escaping him. He looks forward dully to the days of his holiday yet to pass, and wonders how he will dispose of them. He is disgusted because his money is not more, his command of the language so slight, and his capacity for enjoyment so limited.
ARNOLD BENNETT
attributed, Voyages of Discovery
The reason why there are so many narrow-minded people in the world is, because there is so little travelling in it.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.
MADAME SWETCHINE
"Airelles", The Writings of Madame Swetchine
Travel not too fast, if you would learn.
PETER RAMUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
A wise man travels to discover himself.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
Fireside Travels
Our object in traveling should be, not to gratify curiosity, and seek mere temporary amusement, but to learn, and to venerate, to improve the understanding and the heart.
NIGEL GRESLEY
attributed, American Medical Association Bulletin, 1933
When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries, where he hath travelled, altogether behind him; but maintain a correspondence by letters, with those of his acquaintance, which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in his discourse, than his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse, let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories; and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners, for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers, of that he hath learned abroad, into the customs of his own country.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Travel", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Every mile of travel is like the disinterment of a buried city.
ANONYMOUS
Appleton's Journal, January-June 1878
For many of us, change is the biggest motivation for travel. We have a need for novel scenery, routine, weather or even people.
BLAKE SNOW
"Off The Grid: Why Do We Travel?", Paste Magazine, May 16, 2017
On journeys it has happened many times before that something I especially desire withholds itself. Travel is like knowledge: much remains unknown and imperfectly seen, a situation not always remedied by checking museum hours, which are, in any case, changeable. And, too, the direct gaze, for all its virtues, can obscure: some things can simply not be seen head-on in the sun's glare.
EMILY HIESTAND
The Very Rich Hours
A man who has travelled and seen the world, brings all countries to his fireside.
GEORGE REDFORD
attributed, Day's Collacon
What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.
JACK KEROUAC
Travel is like a game; there is always gain or loss, and mostly from the unexpected side; you receive more or less than you hope for; you can, with impunity, loiter along for a while, then you are again obliged to gather yourself up a moment. For natures like mine, that like to establish themselves firmly and hold fast to things, a journey is invaluable; it animates, instructs and cultivates.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
letter to Friedrich Schiller, October 14, 1797