50 In Quotes/ Travel

50 Travel Quotes Sure to Inspire Wanderlust

I am a sucker for travel quotes. I read them and instantly feel inspired. I write them in margins of journals, find inspiration for posts in them and even create travel mantras. I also love sharing my favorites with fellow-travelers. I’ve shared them in various forms here on For the Love of Wanderlust, but today I’m sharing my favorite 50 Travel Quotes.

For the Love of Wanderlust’s Favorite 50 Travel Quotes:

“Most travelers hurry too much… the great thing is to stray and travel with eyes of the spirit wide open, and not too much factual information. To tune in, without reverence, idly– but with real inward attention. It is to be had for the feeling…. You can extract the essence of a place once you know how. If you just get as still a needle, you’ll be there.”

Lawrence Durrell

50 Travel Quotes  

“Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.”

Andrew Zimmern

“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place. Like you’ll not only miss the people you love, but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”

Azar Nafisi

If you’re brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old, resentments and out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.”

Elizabeth Gilbert

“Let’s not travel to tick things off lists or collect half-hearted, semi-treasures to be places in dusty drawers in empty rooms. Rather, we’ll travel to find grounds and rooftops and tiny hidden parks, where we’ll sit and dismiss the passing time, spun in the city’s web ’til we’ve surrendered, content to be spent and consumed. I need to feel a place while I’m in it.”

Victoria Erickson

 

“(Travel is) humbling to the point where you have major regrets about some of the stupid things you said, some of the things you thought were right. You keep going to these countries, and it’s like you forgot the lesson from the last time. But the first person you encounter kind-of bitch-slaps you upside the head in the most wonderful innocent way, and you realize, God, I’m still an asshole. And this guy, by doing nothing except being broke and so incredibly polite – it takes you aback,  you realize, I’m still not there yet. I still have, like, eight miles to go before I can even get into the parking lot of humility. I have to keep going back. It’s like going back to the chiropractor to get a readjustment. That’s me in Africa; that’s me in SE Asia. You come back humbled and you bring that into your life.”

Henry Rollins

“When it is over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life, something particular and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Mary Oliver

 

“I want a life measured in first steps on foreign soils and deep breaths in brand new seas. I want a life measured in welcome signs, each stamped with a different name, borders marked with metal and paint. Show me the streets that don’t know the muse of my wandering feet and I will play their song upon them. Perfume me please in the smells of faraway, I will never wash my hair if it promises to stay. I want a life measured in the places I haven’t gone, short sleeps on long flights, new words to describe the dawn.”

Tyler Knott Gregson

“I’d like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

John Krakauer

 

“The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human; the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to henge the circumstances of your life, to be a stranger, to make a friend, to experience an exotic landscape, to risk the unknown, to bear witness to the consequences, tragic or comic, of the people possessed by the narcissism of minor differences.”

Paul Theroux

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you – it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart and on your body. You take something with you… Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

Anthony Bourdain

 

“People often ask me how I have managed to have so many interesting people – experiences in my nomadic wanderings. It’s because I trust; I always have. It’s not something that has developed with experience, though perhaps with constant reinforcement I do it more often. I’ve never been disappointed, though I’ve sometimes been surprised. I know there’s a risk but it’s one I’m willing to take. My life is constantly enriched because I trust people.”

Rita Golden Gelman

Travel is little beds and cramped bathrooms. It’s old television sets and slow internet connections. Travel is extraordinary conversations with ordinary people. It’s waiters, gas station attendants and housekeepers becoming the most interesting people in the world. It’s churches that are compelling enough to enter. It’s McDonald’s being a luxury. It’s the realization that you may have been born in the wrong country. Travel is a smile that leads to a conversation in broken English. It’s the epiphany that pretty girls smile the same way all over the world. Travel is tipping 10% and being embraced for it. Travel is the same white t-shirt again tomorrow. Travel is accented sex after good wine and to many unfiltered cigarettes. Travel is flowing in the back of a bus with giggly strangers. It’s a street full of beard backpackers looking down at maps. Travel is wishing for one more bite of whatever that just was. It’s the rediscovery of walking somewhere. It’s sharing a bottle of liquor on an overnight train with a new friend. Travel is, ‘Maybe I don’t have to do it that way when I get back home.’ It’s nostalgia for studying abroad that one semester. Travel is realizing that ‘age thirty’ should be shed of its goddam stigma.”

Nick Miller

 

It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many place I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that’s enlightenment enough – to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise and how far I have yet to go.”

Anthony Bourdain

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.”

Mark Twain

 I hope these 50 travel quotes from poets, wanderers, authors and drifters have left you full of wanderlust. Did your favorite travel quote make the cut? Feel free to share yours in the comments below! I hope you feel inspired to get out and explore, to buy a plane ticket or take a hike. 

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50 Comments

  • Reply
    Megan Claire (@mappingmegan)
    August 29, 2017 at 11:26 pm

    Thanks for putting together this amazing compliation of quotes, I think that travel quotes both inspire the passion for travel, and also inspire reflection, on the things we’ve learned through our experiences, and remind us of our memories. I think it’s impossible to choose a favorite from such a long list though!

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 9:40 am

      I agree. They’re multi-faceted and there’s a quote for any type of traveler as well. I love a boost of inspiration.

  • Reply
    Sandy N Vyjay
    August 30, 2017 at 12:53 am

    These are all so inspiring and bring alive the spirit of travel. Indeed I fee that blessed are the people who travel for they get to see and experience what others don’t. Life is definitely not fully lived if you do not travel.

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 9:42 am

      I absolutely agree with that. I’ve never found something else that has done so much for me. Travel is fun, an educator, trying, beautiful and unifying, all at the same time!

  • Reply
    AuthenticTravels
    August 30, 2017 at 5:33 am

    Oh, this is such a wonderful idea and an inspirational post. You know, at the beginning of my blog, I had started to collect travel quotes and I was planning to write + comment one /week. I am very happy to see that you found the time to do this awesome job. I think that the quote I resonate now is the one referring to how small we are in this world. I would add my favorite quote too:”we live to discover beauty, all else is a form of waiting.” (Kahlil Gibran)

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 9:43 am

      That’s a beautiful quote! There are so many. Maybe I’ll have a 50 more post some time! They’re really fun to collect aren’t they?

  • Reply
    Susan R
    August 30, 2017 at 6:45 am

    What a fantastic selection of quotes! I think my favourites are the ones by Gustave Flaubert and Anita Desai. I definitely try to bring back some of the good parts of travelling and I don’t mean souvenirs, but healthier or more relaxed ways of living

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 9:45 am

      I completely agree. Those are the best kinds of souvenirs! I have to admit they usually go by the wayside after time, but that’s a great excuse for a refresher and more travel!

  • Reply
    ambujsaxena05
    August 30, 2017 at 11:11 am

    You have compiled my favorite quotes in one post. I cant help but keep going back to pick my favorite travel quote. I think travel shows we need to modest in our day to day lives.

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 9:49 am

      I completely agree. I remember when I came home from my first long-term trip, I came home and purged everything and donated so much to Goodwill. It teaches you how little you truly need to be happy.

  • Reply
    Vibeke Johannessen
    August 30, 2017 at 2:46 pm

    I love that you created pins for this quotes:) many of these are new to me and it is so inspiring to read. It is hard to pick a favourite though. These quotes makes you really appreciate the wanderlust when people might say travelling is useless etc. Thank you so much for this post 🙂

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 9:51 am

      Thank you! It was really time consuming, but also a lot of fun! I also love to reference quotes when people make judgy statements about travel being useless. Thanks for reading!

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 10:44 am

      Thank you! It was time-consuming but also a lot of fun! They really do make good responses to people who think traveling is foolish or a waste of time/money.

  • Reply
    Candy
    August 30, 2017 at 5:09 pm

    I love travel quotes and they are always so good! My favorite from these was this one from Andrew Zimmern. I never really thought about those two words in depth: traveler and tourist. Now every time I think of those words I will remember his quote 🙂

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 10:58 am

      Yeah it’s an interesting idea. I remember when this sparked a huge debate a couple of years ago. I think everyone has their own styler, but I’d rather travel that take a vacation/holiday so it’s a good reminder to me and my travel-style.

  • Reply
    Colby
    August 30, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    These are some amazing quotes! It’s nice to stumble upon the not so “cliche” ones. I love the one by Jeff Johnson. Definitely saving this list for later when I need a little travel inspo.

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 11:00 am

      I love that one too. It’s from the travel film 180 South. Super inspiring, I would highly recommend it, especially if you’re a Nature-lover.

  • Reply
    Claudia
    August 30, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    They are all such great quotes and I can personally connect to more than a few of them ! I am actually saving some 🙂

    • Reply
      Paige Wunder
      September 4, 2017 at 11:03 am

      Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed them! I tried to share my favorite, less cliche quotes.

  • Reply
    Cat
    August 30, 2017 at 10:52 pm

    I love reading about travel quotes, especially those non-clique ones 😛 My favourite from this post is the “Travel isn’t always pretty” by Anthony Bourdain. People always think travel is fun (and glamorous) all the time, but it is not! I feel especially so this year!

  • Reply
    Anne @TravelTheGlobe (@TTGLOBE4L)
    August 30, 2017 at 11:30 pm

    Saved to Flipboard. I love these but when I want one can never find one. What a great resource I now have

  • Reply
    Mel Butler
    August 31, 2017 at 3:36 am

    I love love love travel quotes and this is a great list that you have put together here. I am definitely going to pin this for later on when I am in need of some motivation or just inspiration. It is hard to pick one favorite as I like so many of them.

  • Reply
    Sonal of Drifter Planet
    August 31, 2017 at 6:51 am

    Love this post. Reminds me of my desk job days when I used to print them and pin them on my workstation. I’d spend a lot of time looking at them everyday and then eventually decided to quit my job and to leave. 🙂

  • Reply
    Ozzy
    August 31, 2017 at 8:49 am

    A very well compiled list of travel quotes which are sure to tickle the wanderlust in me. This post has just become my source for travel quotes in the near future. Thanks a bunch! Cheers.

  • Reply
    abcdefghizzy
    August 31, 2017 at 10:48 pm

    “Travel is not a reward for working, it’s an education for living.” Can I just say WOW? My mind is blown! Love that these quotes are not the cliche offering and that there are so many of them I haven’t heard. Revisiting this post so I can bookmark everything!

  • Reply
    Claire 🌍 (@clairesturz)
    September 2, 2017 at 9:37 am

    I do love a good travel quote! I was getting tired of the same ones though, but you’ve got some I hadn’t seen here before. I like Anthony Bourdain’s – travel isn’t always pretty for sure, but it definitely has changed me. I’m a different person now than I was when I left, for sure!

  • Reply
    Carol
    September 2, 2017 at 9:38 am

    Love all these quotes! So inspiring!

  • Reply
    nickwheatley
    September 2, 2017 at 10:02 am

    I am with you – I absolutely love travel quotes! When my wife and I were starting our first extended trip abroad I gave her a travel journal in which I inscribed a quote to get her started – now she always asks me to write travel quotes in her journals. This is such a great list and has many I have never heard of before – thanks for compiling!

  • Reply
    Kate
    September 2, 2017 at 11:03 am

    I love these! There are so many in here that I haven’t ever heard. Not your typical quotes. Love the Angelina Jolie one all the Jack Kerouac ones!

  • Reply
    Tamara Elliott
    September 2, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    I love these! I think my favourite one is about the stories found between passport pages. So good!

  • Reply
    Jenn and Ed Coleman
    September 2, 2017 at 1:16 pm

    I really like the construction of this article. Well done. My favorite quote today was “there is nothing that the road cannot fix”. That seems apropos as we are returning back to Tucson AZ this weekend. So much of my life, triumph and heartache has been centered around this city. I can only realize how much the road has set me free when I am engulfed in all of the city’s familiarity and ghosts.

  • Reply
    Eric Gamble
    September 2, 2017 at 2:14 pm

    I love this. I think I love the Edward Abbey, The Buffalo Bill, & the Mark Twain quotes the most. I am always restless and wanderlusting cause I cant imagine I was put on this gigantic planet just to hangout in one tiny place.

  • Reply
    thewanderingcore
    September 2, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    The quote by where Azar Nafisi where he says “You get a strange feeling while leaving a place…” That’s my feeling for everywhere I’ve been to and I think that’s what I crave for. What a truly beautiful collection where your described travel not as hobby or even as a passion but as a way to live life fully. Just wonderful post.

  • Reply
    Tom
    September 2, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    Wow, there are so many great quotes! My favorite travel quote Comes actually from the movie “The Hobbit”. “I’m going on an adventure!” Sums travelling pretty much up 😀

  • Reply
    forever roaming the world
    September 2, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    Some really great quotes here 😀 – I have to say sometimes I have to stop myself reading travel quotes because I want to get back out on the road haha. After reading through these it’s happening to me right now haha.

  • Reply
    Dan
    September 2, 2017 at 6:05 pm

    “All you have to do is dicide to go and the hardest part is over”- So true, so many people talk about traveling but few book the ticket

  • Reply
    Traveling Well For Less
    September 2, 2017 at 10:21 pm

    What an interesting mix of travel quotes. They really range the gamut. Of all them, the Michael Palin quote is my favorite.

  • Reply
    Carola
    September 2, 2017 at 11:12 pm

    Wow! Amazing how many quotes there are about traveling. Though my vaforite remains: Just go our and travel!

    Happy continued travels!
    C

  • Reply
    London-Unattached.com
    September 3, 2017 at 7:55 am

    Some great quotes here! I’ve seen a few of them but some are quite new to me.

  • Reply
    WorldGlimpses
    September 3, 2017 at 9:33 am

    Love that one by Gustave Flaubert that “travel makes you modest”. That’s so true! When you see the diversity of the world, you can only get impatient to learn more and stand in awe before that grandeur of the globe! The only way to respect other cultures is to meet them and learn about them. Only then you should ask for respect for the “tiny space that you occupy”. 🙂

  • Reply
    Jody Robbins
    September 3, 2017 at 10:03 am

    These are so good! I had no idea there were so many inspirational travel quotes out there. It often comes back to the same thing thought- be open and ready to learn.

  • Reply
    WanderingCarol
    September 4, 2017 at 11:06 am

    It’s hard to go wrong with Kerouac and Sylvia Plath! So let’s keep rolling under the stars and follow our crooked paths.

  • Reply
    Eve Kay
    September 4, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    I love your idea of gathering travel quotes! They are so inspirational. I actually never know there are so many travel quotes as I never actively seek out for them. I especially like the one about “travel makes you modest” – travelers really need to remember this!

  • Reply
    Patricia Steffy (@PLSteffy)
    September 4, 2017 at 3:31 pm

    These are great travel quotes, and most I’ve never read before (double bonus points). I think my favorite is the Anita Desai quote “where you go becomes a part of you somehow” (also amazing picture). It really resonates because I think I really have absorbed, to some degree, some element of every place I’ve been to — even from my travels with my parents when I was a toddler!

  • Reply
    Sara Broers (@TravelWithSara)
    September 5, 2017 at 10:35 am

    I love all of these. I am always looking for “that” one quote. I particularly like Mark Twain’s quote, as we all get caught up in our day and in all reality, in 20 years, what will matter? Thanks for putting this together, as I’m bookmarking this for future reference.

  • Reply
    Claudia
    September 5, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    This is a great collection of travel quotes. It’s hard to choose a favorite! Can’t go wrong with Twain or Bourdain though. 😉 Explore. Dream. Discover. All the way!

  • Reply
    Jessica M
    September 5, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    Love the quote by Anthony Bourdain. “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you – it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart and on your body. You take something with you… Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
    I’ve been on the road a lot in my life, broke, uncomfortable and heartbroken. Through all that I’ve learned so much!

  • Reply
    Lauren
    September 5, 2017 at 11:45 pm

    I’m always looking up travel quotes more than any other! I love the inspiration behind them, and a lot of them seem to work in accordance with my beliefs. Thanks for putting them all in one place!

  • Reply
    Luke
    September 7, 2017 at 8:37 pm

    wow! This was an amazing page. to keep this brief I will share the names of my favorites: Martien Vercruysse, Paul Theroux, Michael Mewshaw, Rita Golden Gelman, Nick Miller, Mark Twain. And I loved the unknown quote: “Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.” Loved this post alot.

  • Reply
    Dolf
    September 10, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    Hey there Paige,

    A few days ago we received a nomination for the Bloggers Recognition award. One of the conditions is to nominate 15 people ourselves, and since we have been reading and enjoying your posts lately, we would like to nominate you! Keep up the good work!

    We wrote a post about it: http://wanderlustvlog.com/blog/our-blogger-recognition-award-nomination/

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