The world’s most insightful quotes about travel

The greatest thinkers on the planet give their considered opinions on travel. Do you agree with them?

6 mins

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – Saint Augustine

“Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty – his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” – Aldous Huxley

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu

“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling 

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” – G.K. Chesterton

“Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else.” – Lawrence Block

“There’s only four ways to get unraveled; One is to sleep and the other is travel.” – Jim Morrison

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

“I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad.” – George Bernard Shaw

“The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist.” – Russell Baker

“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville

“Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” – David Mitchell 

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck


Main image: Sailing ship (Shutterstock)

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