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Book: Travel as a Political Act
Quotes of Book: Travel as a Political Act
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  1. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    While the traffic is enough to make you scream, people are incredibly good-humored on the road. I never heard angry horns honking. One time, while stalled in a Tehran jam, people in a neighboring car saw me sitting patiently in the back of our van. They rolled down their window and handed Majid a bouquet of flowers, saying, "Give this to your visitor and apologize for our traffic.
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  2. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    I remember when the standard farewell when I set off on another trip was "Bon voyage!" But today, Americans tend to say, "Have a safe trip." {When I hear this, I'm inclined to say, "Well, you have a safe stay-at-home-because where I'm going is statistically much safer than where you're staying."}"
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  3. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    I asked my new friend, "Were you born here?" He thought about it, paused, and then said, "No, 'twas 'bout five miles down the road." Later, I asked him, "Have you lived here all your life?" He winked and said, "Not yet.
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  4. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    Europe knows what a war is. It ripped itself to shreds twice within my grandparents' lifetime. Consider France's losses in World War I. France {with one-quarter as many people as we have} lost as many people as the US lost in the entire Iraq War-over 4,400 people-in one day…many times. They lost as many people as we lost in Vietnam {60,000} in one month. And then it happened again and again until, by the end of World War I, an estimated half of all the men in France between the ages of 15 and 30 were casualties.
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  5. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    If boots do hit the ground in a war, Europeans believe it will be because they have failed to prevent it. They prefer endless diplomacy to once-in-a-while war. Europe's reluctance to go to war frustrates some Americans. I believe their relative pacifism is because Europeans know the reality of war, while most Americans do not. Of course, if you have a loved one who has fought or died in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Vietnam, you know what a war is. But as a society, the US can't remember actually hosting a war.
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  6. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    Europeans marvel at how Americans seem willing, almost eager, to work themselves into an early grave. My European friends have told me proudly, "We don't live to work…we work to live.
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  7. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    In Denmark, "social trust"-a general feeling that you trust your fellow citizens and the pillar institutions of government, law courts, police, hospitals, and so on-is generally found to be the highest in the world. A perfect example of Danish "social trust" is the image of babies sleeping in carriages outside a restaurant while the parents eat inside. You might say, "But no one is watching!" A Dane will say, "Everyone is watching.
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  8. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    Travelers recognize that the results of an election here in the US can have a greater impact on poor people half a world away than it does on middle-class American voters. My travels have taught me that, even if motived only by greed, you don't want to be really rich in a desperately poor world. With this in mind, I think of it not as noble or heroic, but simply pragmatic to bring a compassion for the needy along with me into the voting booth.
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  9. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    To me, understanding people and their lives is what travel is about, no matter where you go.
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  10. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    Feed the hungry and you're a saint, ask why they are hungry and you're a communist.
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  11. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    As a traveler, I've often found that the more a culture differs from my own, the more I am struck by its essential humanity.
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  12. Rick Steves _ Travel as a Political Act

    I believe if you're going to bomb someone you should know them first. It should hurt when you kill someone.
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