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

Bombay is a city where gossip is treated as a commodity.

Tahir Shah

In India everything has a use and a value.

Tahir Shah

I was becoming addicted to Bombay. There was squalor and poverty, but I had begun to realise my good fortune and would never again forget it.

Tahir Shah

Time spent in India has a extraordinary effect on one. It acts as a barrier that makes the rest of the world seem unreal.

Tahir Shah

In India an explanation is often more confusing than what prompted it.

Tahir Shah

Prideep pointed to the flames of paraffin lamps as they came alive in the distance and cackled in awe at the experience. (…) I was to discover that making tasty soup with one carrot, ten peas and a little dishwater, was his greatest skill. One wond...

Tahir Shah

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.

Tahir Shah

Back at the Chateau Windsor there was a rat-like scratching at the door of my room. Vinod, the youngest servant, came in with a soda water. He placed it next to the bag of toffees. Then he watched me read. I was used to being observed reading. Someti...

Tahir Shah

Osman and Prideep had been in my employment for some weeks. Every Friday I would take the to lunch. It was the high point of their calender. During the meal I would harangue them as a reminder of what they had been hired for: but my orations never se...

Tahir Shah

Inscribed on it was a verse from the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, the eleventh-century Persian mystic. Reading the words aloud I prepared for a most amazing journey: The sages who have compassed sea and land, Their secret to search out and understand, ...

Tahir Shah

Real travel is not about the highlights with which you dazzle your friends once you're home. It's about the loneliness, the solitude, the evenings spent by yourself, pining to be somewhere else. Those are the moments of true value. You feel half prou...

Tahir Shah

Believe, and what was impossible becomes possible what at first was hidden becomes visible.

Tahir Shah

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.

Tahir Shah

My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.

Tahir Shah

For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories.

Tahir Shah

At the dealership, I pulled out the sieve and toyed with it threateningly. When the salesman was ready for me, I held it up, told him I was not a tourist and demanded a large discount.

Tahir Shah

Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you...

Tahir Shah

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.

Tahir Shah

Real terror is a crippling experience. You sweat so much that your skin goes all wrinkly like when you've been in the bath all afternoon. And then the scent of your sweat changes. It smells like cat pee, no doubt from the adrenalin. However hard you ...

Tahir Shah

Because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we all have become lazy. Lazy people are like cancer. They spread. Before you know it, the entire country is destroyed.

Tahir Shah

The ants are bad" The Bear "the ants?"Tahir "Do not be fooled. They look very small, so harm you don't think of then at all. Then years. Then one day you wake up, and your home has fallen down." Osman.

Tahir Shah

Author Bio

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