The Places in Between Quotes

“Finally a soldier marched in and, holding his right hand to his chest, said, "Salaam aleikum. Chetor hastid? Jan-e-shoma jur ast? Khub hastid? Sahat-e-shoma khub ast? Be khair hastid? Jur hastid? Khane kheirat ast? Zinde bashi."

Which in Dari, the Afghan dialect of Persian, means, "Peace be with you. How are you? Is your soul healthy? Are you well? Are you well? Are you healthy? Are you fine? Is your household flourishing? Long life to you." Or: "Hello.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Religions . . . seem to avoid mountain passes.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Man's life is brief and transitory, Literature endures forever”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“I wondered if walking was not a form of dancing.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“I thought about evolutionary historians who argued that walking was a central part of what it meant to be human. Our two-legged motion was what first differentiated us from the apes. It freed our hands for tools and carried us onthe long marches out of Africa. As a species, we colonized the world on foot. Most of human history was created through contacts conducted at walking pace, even when some rode horses. I thought of the pilgrimages to Compostela in Spain; to Mecca; to the source of the Ganges; and of wandering dervishes, sadhus; and friars who approached God on foot. The Buddha meditated by walking and Wordsworth composed sonnets while striding beside the lakes.
Bruce Chatwin concluded from all this that we would think and live better and be closer to our purpose as humans if we moved continually on foot across the surface of the earth. I was not sure I was living or thinking any better.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“I had been walking one afternoon in Scotland and thought: Why don't I just keep going? There was, I said, a magic in leaving a line of footprints stretching across Asia.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“My feet beat out a steady muffled rhythm. My thoughts participated in each step, never getting ahead of me.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Everyone had memorized a chant of names and villages along footpaths in every direction. This was a very useful map.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“In the mountains, travelers were reduced to the speed of men on foot. Here, the ancient English sense of journey, 'a day's travel' (French journee), meant the same as the Old Persian word farsang, 'the distance a man could travel on foot in a day,' and the territory was in effect ungovernable.
”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Genghis Khan's 'arrow messengers' could travel 450 kilometers a day.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Unlike most travel writers, he [Babur] is honest.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Here, the ancient English sense of journey, ‘a day’s travel’ (French journée), meant the same as the Old Persian word farsang, ‘the distance a man could travel on foot in a day’, and the territory was in effect ungovernable.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“He [Babur] was a type of mastiff, bred to fight against wolves, dogs, and humans. . . . The mastiff is perhaps the oldest breed of dog in the world. . . . The dogs of Ghor . . . were always regarded as particularly special mastiffs. . . . 'so powerful that in frame and strength every one of them is a match for a lion.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Perhaps it is because no one requires more than a charming illusion of action in the developing world. If policy makers know little about Afghanistan, the public knows even less, and few care about policy failure when the effects are felt only in Afghanistan.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“I recited and followed this song-of-the-places-in-between as a map.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“There is a consensus in Afghan society: violence must end, respect for human rights will form the path to a lasting peace and stability across the country. The people’s aspirations must be represented in an accountable, broad-based, gender sensitive, multi-ethnic, representative government that delivers daily value.67”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“In India, when I was walking from one pilgrimage site to another across the Himalayas, I carried the Bhagavad Gita open in my left hand and read one line at a time.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“I thought about evolutionary historians who argued that walking was a central part of what it meant to be human. Our two-legged motion was what first differentiated us from the apes. It freed our hands for tools and carried us on the long marches out of Africa.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“I told him that Afghanistan was the missing section of my walk, the place in between the deserts and the Himalayas, between Persian, Hellenic and Hindu culture, between Islam and Buddhism, between mystical and militant Islam. I wanted to see where these cultures merged into one another or touched the global world.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“Man’s life is brief and transitory, Literature endures forever.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“I told him I had hoped to understand the Hazara but had only gathered disconnected and puzzling anecdotes. I asked what could explain the Hazara to me. He smiled and put clean blankets on the floor. And when I lay down he removed a bundle from a carved wooden box, kissed it, said a prayer, unwrapped it, and, opening the Koran, read:

"And what can explain the steep path to you?
It is the freeing of a slave,
Or the giving of food in a day of starvation..."

And as I lay wondering who he was, he continued gently:

"Unbeliever, I do not worship what you worship,
Nor do you worship what I worship.
I shall never worship what you worship,
Nor will you ever worship what I worship.
You have your religion and I have mine.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“The owl loves its nest in the ruins, The Huma revels in making kings, The falcon will not leave the King’s hand, And the wagtail pleads weakness.2”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“He [Babur] was a ype of mastiff, bred to fight against wolves, dogs, and humans. . . . The mastiff is perhaps the oldest breed of dog in the world. . . . The dogs of Ghor . . . were always regarded as particularly special mastiffs. . . . 'so powerful that in frame and strength every one of them is a match for a lion.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between