The Places in Between QUOTES

1 " 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

3 " Man's life is brief and transitory, Literature endures forever "

― Rory Stewart , The Places in Between

5 " 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

7 " I wondered if walking was not a form of dancing. "

― Rory Stewart , The Places in Between

9 " 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

11 " Genghis Khan's 'arrow messengers' could travel 450 kilometers a day. "

― Rory Stewart , The Places in Between

13 " 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

15 " 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

17 " 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