You might have been looking all over the internet to find that one perfect (short) travel quote that describes exactly how you feel while traveling. I know I did many times. And I got sick of it. So to help you out and save you some time and trouble, here are my favorite travel-related quotes:
It’s one of the most popular (travel) quotes that refer to life itself, but I’d like to see it as a travel quote. Eliot was a Nobel Price winning British poet, writer, and philosopher mostly known for his poems The Waste Land, The Hollow Man, and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
Ok, not a short travel quote, but it is a great one! Jawaharial Nehru was India’s first official Premier after a long fight to get India independent from the United Kingdom. His admiration for Gandhi and his choice to live as an atheist is still an inspiring story today.
Lin Yutang was a Chinese writer and translator in the early 20th century. He traveled a lot between the US and China and his search for “the right” religion is highly admirable. Many great travel quotes from this guy can be found!
If you have seen the movie or read the book The Miracle Worker, you will understand why this short travel quote is so important to keep in mind while living your life as a world traveler. It’s what you make of your life.
Well, do I even have to say anything about this? James Michener, an American author, wrote a lot of romantic and historical novels about different geographic locations. So if you’re into this genre, bring them with you on your next journey! (Check out best seller Hawaii)
and now two very famous travel quotes:
I believe that Frodo Baggins was lost from time to time, but ok, he wasn’t wandering ofc! I do am wandering a lot and Tolkien is absolutely right that I’m not lost in those moments. I just really like to walk around without a plan and see what the city brings me at that moment.
This short-travel quote is super popular. You can buy t-shirts, jewelry, and even home decorations and a wooden world map with this quote on it. My favorite is the leather passport cover though! Go mental if you love this too!
Jack Kerouac traveled a lot in the US and Mexico while writing most of his novels. He lived a very bumpy life with depressions, alcohol addiction, and stranded relationships. But he did know that if you would stay at the same location for the rest of your life, you wouldn’t excel in life.
Another American novelist. I always reckon this quote in myself. Whenever I hear people talking about countries where they haven’t been themselves, but also when I take off to another country. Upon arriving I always expect something different than I get. Which makes it of course so beautiful to travel.
If we all knew where happiness was located, we would all be living there! But no, there’s no such place. It’s a way of life, a way of thinking and in mister Goodmans words: a way of travel. Amen, sir.
The great Mark Twain (or actually Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but I understand why he used an alter name)! Father of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He traveled all over the USA and later also Europe and the Middle East, which was quite a world trip (we’re talking about the year 1869 people). So yes, of course, Mark Twain is on my list of favorite travel quotes. It was a struggle to choose the best one, cause he has written many great things about traveling and has a lot of great travel quotes.
As long as your footprints are carbon-neutral, I’m all in!
You have to know that Chief Seattle was a prominent figure among the Native American tribes, protecting the land of his people against the new Americans. Oh man, I can quote this man a million times! And this quote is still so accurate on the current situation of the world. Read all about Chief Seattle in this book.
I have never taken anything with me from foreign countries, besides the correct souvenirs. I collect wooden toys as souvenirs, cause you can never go wrong with that. So I have this wooden classic car from Cuba, a wooden rhino from Kenya and for example a wooden train from Lisbon. But indeed, I also have a lot more memories and those are the best souvenirs to bring home with you.
Amen Confucius, you nailed it. Probably this wasn’t related to world traveling, but about life itself. But still, it’s a great quote to keep in mind.
Ok, once a year is not enough. I rather do this 12 times a year. Travel somewhere new every month! And if I’m not moving to another country, I’m looking for a new location nearby. A new museum, park, beach, house, forest. Wherever I haven’t been, I will find it. Even in my home town. I can recommend it!
Read recommendation: The Art of Happiness
I can recognize myself in this since I’m more or less focused on the countries where my friends haven’t been yet. I hate it (and you probably too) when I tell you that I’m going somewhere and that EVERYBODY I know has already been there and is giving me unwanted travel advice. This also makes me a bit reserved about giving my travel experiences. You don’t want to be the person you hate.
You’d think everybody has read the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective Leaders, right? Well, I haven’t! And I’m not going to either. I have read enough about how to do, think, or act like a successful person that it makes me sick. It constantly made me think I’m not good enough, can do better, and should be doing more to be happy. But sorry guys, I’m already freakin’ happy! Don’t need other strategies to be successful and/or happy, cause it works the other way around for me.
Then why quoting the guy? Well, he is right about that compass 😉
Don’t we all have these unique moments in the past of which we absolutely know won’t come on your path again? My parents would say “you only live once”, which is in line with this quote.
Though he is mostly known for his extraordinary life and ‘sex scandals’, Oscar Wilde traveled a lot for his time. His revolutionary vision of life made it hard for him to live his life to the fullest, but he wasn’t afraid of standing out of the crowd. To understand the whole story behind this travel quote of Oscar Wilde, you should definitely read his biography by Richard Ellmann (it won a Pulitzer!).
Ibn Battuta is one of the biggest world travelers of his time (14th century). He traveled through almost all countries in the Middle East and Asia while working as a political figure, trader, and explorer. He had a truly nomadic life and it made him a great storyteller. Something I hope to be when I’m a granny 😉
This travel quote is on my list because I love to travel alone. This doesn’t mean I am alone during my travels, nor that I’m not willing to be around people. On the contrary actually! I love to meet new people and hear their life stories! I’m just not willing to let somebody else have an influence on my travel plans. I wake up in the morning and decide what I’m going to do that day. I’m not waking up to negotiate on what to do. It’s my journey, I decide. And I’m most certainly not waiting.
Nothing gets me more annoyed; people who do not travel but think to know how the story ends.
This quote is in line with “you only live once” and “becoming a great storyteller when you grow old”. A quote that couldn’t be missed in this list.
A travel quote from a song 🙂 The first “instant feel-good song” in my playlist when I’m on the road. I have a great travel/surf playlist btw, you can find it here: Travel Playlist Josien.
A few more short travel quotes that I picked up over the last months:
23. “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” – Paolo Coelho
24. “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
25. “Visit a place you have never been before every year.” – Dalai Lama
26. “If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears.” – Glenn Clark
27. “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag
28. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux
29. “I don’t know where I am going, but I’m on my way.” – Carl Sagan
