Favorite Quotes from Vagabonding by Rolf Potts are listed below:
Page 13, “Rather, it’s (vagabonding) a personal act that demands only the realignment of self.”
Page 29, “This notion- that material investment is somehow more important to life than personal investment-is exactly what leads so many of us to believe we could never afford to go vagabonding. Indeed, the freedom to go vagabonding has never been determined by income level; it’s found through simplicity-the conscious decision of how to use what income you have.”
Page 30, “Rather, simplicity merely requires a bit of personal sacrifice: an adjustment of your habits and routine within consumer society itself.”
Page 33, “On a basic level, there are three general methods to simplifying your life: stopping expansion, reining in your routine, and reducing clutter.”
Page 38, “Ultimately, you may well discover that vagabonding on the cheap becomes your favorite way to travel, even if given more expensive options. Indeed, not only does simplicity save you money and buy you time; it also makes you more adventuresome, forces you into sincere contact with locals, and allows you the independence to follow you passions and curiosities down exciting new roads. In this way simplicity-both at home and on the road-affords you the time to seek renewed meaning in an oft-neglected commodity that can’t be bought at any price: life itself.”
Page 46- “Considering all material possessions beyond basic necessities to be an obstacle to true living, Henry David Thoreau espoused the idea that wealth is found not in what you own but in how you spend your time.”
Page 60, “Indeed, the surest way to miss out on the genuine experience of a foreign place-the psychic equivalent of trapping yourself back home-is to obsessively check your email as you travel from place to place.”
Page 63-64, “Vagabonding is not like bulk shopping: The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home-and the slow nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries.”
Page 64-“Vagabonding is about setting your own pace and finding your own way, and you can rest assured that everything you see in a glossy brochure in Milwaukee will be just as available (and ten times cheaper) when you arrive independently at your destination.”
Page 89, “If there’s one key concept to remember amid the excitement of your first days on the road, it’s this: Slow down.”
Page 89, “Vagabonding is about not merely reallotting a portion of your life for travel but rediscovering the entire concept of time. At home, you’re conditioned to get to the point and get things done, to favor goals and efficiency over moment by moment distinction. On the road you learn to improvise your days, take a second look at everything you see, and not obsess over your schedule.”
Page 90, “In a certain sense, walking through new places with the instincts of a five-year old is liberating. No longer are you bound to your past. In living so far away from your home, you’ll suddenly find yourself holding a clean slate. There’s no better opportunity to break old habits, face latent fears, and test out repressed facets of your personality. Socially, you’ll find it easier to be gregarious and open-minded. Mentally, you’ll feel engaged and optimistic, newly ready to listen and learn. And as much as anything, you’ll find yourself abuzz with the peculiar feeling that you can choose to go in any direction (literally and figuratively) at any given moment.”
Page 96, “Rather the secret to staying intrigued on the road-the secret to truly being different from the frustrated masses is this: Don’t set limits. Don’t set limits on what you can or can’t do. Don’t set limits on what is or isn’t worthy of your time. Dare yourself to “play games” with your day: watch, wait, listen; allow things to happen.”
Page 161, “Interestingly, one of the initial impediments to open-mindedness is not ignorance but ideology.”
Page 174, “On a broader and more mythical level, however, walkabout acts as a kind of remedy when the duties and obligations of life cause one to lose track of his or her true self. To correct this, one merely leaves behind all possessions (except for survival essentials) and starts walking. What’s intriguing about walkabout is that there’s no physical goal: It simply continues until one becomes whole again.”
Page 187, “What we know as personal travel, after all, is the historical legacy not of exploration or commerce but of pilgrimage-the nonpolitical, non-material quest for private discovery and growth. Indeed, regardless of whether or not you consider your vagabonding journey to be “spiritual”, self-motivated travel has always been intertwined with the personal workings of the soul.”
Page 190, “Moreover, spirituality is an ongoing process that deepens with the seasons-and those who travel the world hoping to get “blinded by the light” are often blind to the light that’s all around them.”
Page 201, “If travel truly is in the journey and not the destination, if travel really is an attitude of awareness and openness to new things, then any moment can be considered travel.”
Page 202, “Explore your hometown as if it were a foreign land, and take an interest in your neighbors as if they were exotic tribesmen. Keep things real, and keep on learning. Be creative, and get into adventures. Keep things simple, and let your spirit grow. But most of all, keep living your life in such a way that allows your dreams room to breathe.”