We all need a little motivation now and then, no matter who we are, how old we are, or where we are. And I found Travel Quotes to be the most motivating of the bunch, not only because they are easily relatable, but also because the essence relates to Life in general. Having said that, I’ve created a compilation of such Travel Quotes that have occasionally inspired and motivated me.
Also, these travel quotations (Best Shorts Travel Quotes by famous authors) and sayings from notable people like Pico Iyer, Mark Twain, Paulo Coelho, Helen Keller, Anthony Bourdain, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Steinbeck, Hans Christian Andersen and Robert Louis Stevenson, among others, make for great Instagram Travel Captions, so save them for later use.
Best Shorts Travel Quotes By Famous Authors
● Pico Iyer Quotes
Pico Iyer is well-known for his longer introspective works, but he has also given numerous short but impactful travel quotations. Pico Iyer is credited with the following 20+ best travel quotes:
“Travel is the best way we have of rescuing the humanity of places and saving them from abstraction and ideology.”
“Genuine travel is about finding the places that set your soul on fire.”
“The less I needed, the better I felt.”
“The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.”
“The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood.”
“It’s not really about going anywhere. It’s about getting away.”
“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow.”
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
“A person susceptible to ‘wanderlust’ is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.”
“Travel far enough, you meet yourself.”
“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.”
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.”
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”
“Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.”
“The measure of a country’s greatness should be based on how well it cares for its most vulnerable populations.”
“In many ways, the more comfortable we become with uncertainty, the more fearless and open we become.”
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
“The more I traveled, the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.”
“As you travel solo, being totally responsible for yourself, it’s inevitable that you will discover just how capable you are.”
“Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.”
Also Read : 100+ Best travel quotes for instagram caption
● Mark Twain Quotes
Mark Twain, known for his wit and humour, had an interesting take on travel. Here are 20+ of Mark Twain’s best travel quotes:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”
“Explore. Dream. Discover.”
“It is better to travel well than to arrive.”
“The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad.”
“Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
“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.”
“To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.”
“Travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer.”
“Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.”
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
“The trouble with the world is not that people know too little; it’s that they know so many things that just ain’t so.”
“The more you explain it, the more I don’t understand it.”
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”
“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.”
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
● Paulo Coelho Quotes
Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian novelist most renowned for his inspirational and philosophical works, has also given travel advice. Paulo Coelho is credited with the following 20+ best travel quotes:
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.”
“Travel is never a matter of money but of courage.”
“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.”
“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.”
“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.”
“Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.”
“Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
“The ship is safest when it is in port, but that’s not what ships were built for.”
“You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one; each day brings a miracle of its own.”
“When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.”
“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”
“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”
“You are what you believe yourself to be.”
“Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly.”
“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.”
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
“The wise are wise only because they love. The fool are fools only because they think they can understand love.”
“Don’t waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.”
Also Read: 100+ Most Famous Travel Quotes 2024
● Helen Keller Quotes
Helen Keller, despite being deaf and blind, was a great person who overcome many obstacles. While she is not well-known for her travel quotations, here are 20+ inspiring quotes that represent her wisdom and life insights:
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”
“The highest result of education is tolerance.”
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
“I am only one, but still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”
“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.”
“The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.”
“Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.”
“It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.”
“We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.”
“We may have found a cure for most evils; but we have found no remedy for the worst of them all, the apathy of human beings.”
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
“Your success and happiness lie in you.”
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
● Robert Louis Stevenson Quotes
The Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for works such as “Treasure Island” and “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.” Here are 20+ of Robert Louis Stevenson’s best travel quotes:
“I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”
“To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.”
“I travel not to cross countries off a list, but to ignite passionate affairs with destinations.”
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”
“The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”
“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you.”
“I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.”
“I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.”
“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
“Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.”
“Saints are sinners who kept on going.”
“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”
“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.”
“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.”
“So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.”
“Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but primarily by catchwords.”
“A friend is a gift you give yourself.”
“The world is full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.”
● Anthony Bourdain Quotes
Anthony Bourdain, a well-known chef, author, and travel documentarian, left a legacy of clear and frank views about food, culture, and travel. Here are over 20 of Anthony Bourdain’s most memorable travel quotes:
“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you.”
“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.”
“Your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you.”
“I’m a big believer in winging it. I’m a big believer that you’re never going to find a perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one.”
“To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living.”
“The journey is part of the experience — an expression of the seriousness of one’s intent. One doesn’t take the A train to Mecca.”
“I don’t have to agree with you to like you or respect you.”
“It’s been an adventure. We took some casualties over the years. Things got broken. Things got lost. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”
“If I’m committing a crime, it’s loving food too much.”
“As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you.”
“If you’re 22, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them – wherever you go.”
“Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.”
“I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.”
“It’s very rarely a good career move to have a conscience.”
“I’ve long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters, or working for organized crime ‘associates,’ food, for me, has always been an adventure.”
“I’m not afraid to look like a big, hairy, smelly, foreign devil in Tokyo, though I do my best not to, I really do.”
“Travel is not reward for working, it’s education for living.”
“There’s something wonderful about drinking in the afternoon. A not-too-cold pint, absolutely alone at the bar – even in this fake-ass Irish pub.”
● J.R.R. Tolkien Quotes
J.R.R. Tolkien, best known for fantasy novels such as “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” didn’t have a large collection of travel quotes, but his works frequently include elements of journeys, quests, and the exploration of new lands. Here are some short quotes by J.R.R. Tolkien about travel and adventure:
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
“The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow if I can.”
“Adventure is not outside man; it is within.”
“Home is behind, the world ahead, and there are many paths to tread through shadows to the edge of night, until the stars are all alight.”
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it, there are many dark places; but still, there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
“Little by little, one travels far.”
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
“The wise speak only of what they know.”
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
“The biggest adventure is what lies ahead.”
“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”
“Courage is found in unlikely places.”
“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”
“The world is full enough of hurts and mischance without wars to multiply them.”
“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used.”
“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”
“Still round the corner, there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.”
“Not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away.”
“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
John Steinbeck Best Travel Quotes
The American author and Nobel Prize laureate John Steinbeck is known for his vivid portrayals of American life. While he is not recognised for his travel quotes, his writings frequently include comments on travels, relationships, and the American environment. Here are some quotes by John Steinbeck that have a travel-related quotes:
“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”
“People don’t take trips, trips take people.”
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
“A journey, after all, neither begins in the instant we set out nor ends when we have reached our door step once again. It starts much earlier and is really never over, because the film of memory continues running on inside of us long after we have come to a physical standstill.”
“I wonder why progress looks so much like destruction.”
“We do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”
“A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.”
“The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.”
“When a journey is ended, there is another to be taken.”
“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”
“It is the nature of a man as he grows older, a small bridge in time, to protest against change, particularly change for the better.”
“The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.”
“The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.”
“Time is the only critic without ambition.”
“A journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
“A man without words is a man without thought.”
“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
“Don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”
“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”
● Hans Christian Andersen Quotes
Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish novelist most renowned for his fairy tales, didn’t have a vast collection of travel-related quotes, but his writings were typically filled with themes of adventure and wonder. Here are some of Hans Christian Andersen’s quotes:
“To travel is to live.”
“Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead.”
“Adventure is a path. Real adventure, self-determined, self-motivated, often risky, forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world.”
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float; to gain all while you give; to roam the roads of lands remote; to travel is to live.”
“Traveling—it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”
“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”
“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.”
“When you’ve suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both unbearable and trifling.”
“Every man’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers.”
“To be of use to the world is the only way to be happy.”
“The most wonderful fairy tale doesn’t end with happily ever after, but with the feeling that something so magical happened that it’s impossible to forget.”
“Traveling is like a book with pictures.”
“Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
“Our lives are fashioned by our choices. First, we make our choices. Then, our choices make us.”
“The mermaid was the most beautiful of them all; her hair was like pure gold, and she had a fish tail.”
“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.”
“The most powerful words in the universe are the words you tell yourself.”
“Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up.”
“Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead.”
“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”
● Oscar Wilde Quotes
Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet, dramatist, and wit, had a sharp sense of humour and a sardonic outlook on life. While he is not recognised for his travel quotes, his views frequently touched on different facets of the life of a person, including travel. Following are some Oscar Wilde quotes:
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
“Travel improves the mind wonderfully, and does away with all one’s prejudices.”
“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
“The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”
“I am not young enough to know everything.”
“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
“To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.”
“I can resist anything except temptation.”
“One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.”
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”
“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
“I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”
“A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.”
“The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.”
“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”
Also Read : 50+ Best Short Travel Quotes For Captions
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