Tahir Shah · 240 pages
Rating: (110 votes)
“The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“On a hard jungle journey nothing is so important as having a team you can trust.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“Previous journeys had taught me the danger of taking too much stuff.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“On a harsh expedition, there's no space for anyone who does not intend to finish.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“The rain of Madre de Dios is similar to that of the Amazon, but there is a petrifying aspect to it, as if it seeks to wound rather than to nurture.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“Previous experience had taught me that any expedition marches on its stomach.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“Previous journeys in search of treasure have taught me that a zigzag strategy is the best way to get ahead.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“The only thing they valued higher than ammunition were Man United footballs.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“As I saw it, a little threatening was a good thing. It kept the men on their toes.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“As I see the world, there's one element that's even more corrosive than missionaries: tourists. It's not that I feel above them in any way, but that the very places they patronize are destroyed by their affection.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“Running an expedition can bring out the worst in a man. It can make you a power-crazed monster.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“A man who embarks on a journey must know when to end it.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“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, quote from House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
“How strange it was..., one minute you were all alone with your thoughts, the next somebody came along who seemed to know the deepest part of you, who could open you like a book.”
― Justin Cronin, quote from The Twelve
“Curran snarled and hurled the rock against the mountain. The boulder flew, hit like a cannon ball, and rolled back down. Curran chased it, pulled another smaller rock out of the dirt, and smashed it against the first one.
Wow. He was really pissed.
Astamur's eyes were as big as plates.
"I can get him to put those back after he's done," I told him.
"No," Astamur said slowly. "It's fine."
Curran picked up the smaller rock with both hands and threw it onto the larger boulder. The boulder cracked and fell apart. Oops.
"Sorry we broke your rock."
Atsany took the pipe out of his mouth and said something.
"Mrrrhhhm," Astamur said.
"What did he say?"
"He said that the man must be your husband, because only someone we love very much can make us this crazy.”
― Ilona Andrews, quote from Magic Rises
“I wasn't really going to go. I ain't so heartless I'm gonna let someone be struck down with pain on account of me. Even if that someone is a murderer and a liar. Hell, murderers and liars used to sing me to sleep.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, quote from The Assassin's Curse
“Boys and girls are only little men and women. And WE are much harder and hardier than they are--" (Peter liked the "we." Perhaps the Doctor had known he would.)--"and much stronger, and things that hurt THEM don't hurt US. You know you mustn't hit a girl--"
"I should think not, indeed," muttered Peter, indignantly.
"Not even if she's your own sister. That's because girls are so much softer and weaker than we are; they have to be, you know," he added, "because if they weren't, it wouldn't be nice for the babies. And that's why all the animals are so good to the mother animals. They never fight them, you know."
"I know," said Peter, interested; "two buck rabbits will fight all day if you let them, but they won't hurt a doe."
"No; and quite wild beasts--lions and elephants--they're immensely gentle with the female beasts. And we've got to be, too."
"I see," said Peter.
"And their hearts are soft, too," the Doctor went on, "and things that we shouldn't think anything of hurt them dreadfully. So that a man has to be very careful, not only of his fists, but of his words. They're awfully brave, you know," he went on. "Think of Bobbie waiting alone in the tunnel with that poor chap. It's an odd thing- -the softer and more easily hurt a woman is the better she can screw herself up to do what HAS to be done. I've seen some brave women-- your Mother's one," he ended abruptly.
"Yes," said Peter.
"Well, that's all. Excuse my mentioning it. But nobody knows everything without being told. And you see what I mean, don't you?”
― E. Nesbit, quote from The Railway Children
“There should be a rule for grief groups: forty-watt bulbs only.”
― Lolly Winston, quote from Good Grief
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