Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
34 quotes
"The only thing they valued higher than ammunition were Man United footballs."
Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"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, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"There comes a stage at which a man would rather die cleanly by a bullet than by the unknown terror of the phantom in the forest."
Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"I was no longer troubled when he pulled out a machete in a crowded bar, tried to pick up schoolgirls, or threatened to scalp us, then rip off our heads and scoop out our brains."
Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"The inertia of a jungle village is a dangerous thing. Before you know it your whole life has slipped by and you are still waiting there."
Tahir Shah, 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, 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, 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, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"Experience has taught me the power of trophies. You may have every knick-knack and useless contraption ever devised, but while they weigh you down, a simple trophy can go a long, long way."
Tahir Shah, 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, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"The last thing we wanted was for the Machiguenga to be sad again. Sadness appeared to bring out their violence."
Tahir Shah, 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, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"I struggled to think pure thoughts, as Hector sucked out my psyche with his eyes."
Tahir Shah, 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, 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, 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, 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, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession."
Tahir Shah, 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, 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, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
"Exploration is a dirty game."
Tahir Shah, 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, 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, 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, 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, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City