Quotes by Tahir Shah

About Tahir Shah:

Tahir Shah is an Anglo-Afghan Indian author, journalist and documentary maker. He lives in Casablanca, Morocco.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In Morocco," said Osman, "word spreads like a fire tearing through the depths of Hell.

Tahir Shah

The backstreet cafe in Casablanca was for me a place of mystery, a place with a soul, a place with danger. There was a sense that the safety nets had been cut away, that each citizen walked upon the high wire of this, the real world. I longed not mer...

Tahir Shah

Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.

Tahir Shah

As the head of an expedition, you can't pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in a while; a little growling goes a long way.

Tahir Shah

The quest for a lost city erodes your body, damaging you beyond all reason. But it is your mind that bears the heaviest toll. Listen to the doubters, the worriers and the weak, and the vaguest hope of success evaporates.

Tahir Shah

Exploration is a dirty game.

Tahir Shah

Through a strange kind of geographic arrogance, Europeans like to think that the world was a silent, dark, unknown place until they trooped out and discovered it.

Tahir Shah

There are two ways to find a lost city. The first is to rely on luck alone, the second is to control all the information.

Tahir Shah

Normally I would have been the first to go in search of cannibal monks, particularly as I had heard of a similar tradition at a nunnery in the Philippines. It's the sort of quest I can't resist.

Tahir Shah

Only a man who has his health, a full stomach and wears clean clothes would ever entertain the notion of tracking down the greatest lost city on Earth.

Tahir Shah

Previous experience had taught me that any expedition marches on its stomach.

Tahir Shah

The situation was different in the jungle. Every inch of ground had to be earned, and was done so through much exertion with the blade.

Tahir Shah

Running an expedition can bring out the worst in a man. It can make you a power-crazed monster.

Tahir Shah

In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense.

Tahir Shah

My journey to the land of the Shuar tribe had taught me the importance of practical gifts.

Tahir Shah

The porters could always be coaxed to continue a little further through driving rain by the mere suggestion of a Pot Noodle at the end.

Tahir Shah

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.

Tahir Shah

The ability to tell a good route from a terrible one is a valuable skill when leading an expedition. Unfortunately for us all, it was a skill I did not possess.

Tahir Shah

Ours was not going to be a clone of the usual expeditions, oozing with sleekness. It was clear from the start that oddity was our advantage.

Tahir Shah

In the world of the Machiguenga, sadness could be equated with anger, and anger was a perilous emotion, by which a foreigner could lose his life.

Tahir Shah

As far as I was concerned, a little danger of head-shrinking is a small price to pay in return for a people who have remained true to an ancient code.

Tahir Shah

Author Bio

  • NameTahir Shah
  • DescriptionBritish journalist and documentary filmmaker
  • BornNovember 16, 1966
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionWriter; Journalist; Novelist