Jonathan Raban :
Life, as the most ancient of all metaphors insists, is a journey; and the travel book, in its deceptive simulation of the journey's fits and starts, rehearses life's own fragmentation. More even than the novel, it embraces the contingency of things.
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Travel and Tourism
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Love
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Books - Reading
Gift it
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=35422&author=Jonathan Raban"e=++Life%2C+as+the+most+ancient+of+all+metaphors+insists%2C+is+a+journey%3B+and+the+travel+book%2C+in+its+deceptive+simulation+of+the+journey%27s+fits+and+starts%2C+rehearses+life%27s+own+fragmentation.+More+even+than+the+novel%2C+it+embraces+the+contingency+of+things.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2197%2FJonathan+Raban_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=35352&author=Daniel J Boorstin"e=++Not+so+many+years+ago+there+was+no+simpler+or+more+intelligible+notion+than+that+of+going+on+a+journey.+Travel+--movement+through+space+--provided+the+universal+metaphor+for+change.+One+of+the+subtle+confusions+--perhaps+one+of+the+secret+terrors+--of+modern+life+is+that+we+have+lost+this+refuge.+No+longer+do+we+move+through+space+as+we+once+did.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F8037%2FDaniel+J_Boorstin_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=35384&author=Oliver Goldsmith"e=++Life+is+a+journey+that+must+be+traveled+no+matter+how+bad+the+roads+and+accommodations.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F169%2FOliver_Goldsmith_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=113236&author=Yi-Fu Tuan"e=In+contrast+to+the+flux+and+muddle+of+life%2C+art+is+clarity+and+enduring+presence.+In+the+stream+of+life%2C+few+things+are+perceived+clearly+because+few+things+stay+put.+Every+mood+or+emotion+is+mixed+or+diluted+by+contrary+and+extraneous+elements.+The+clarity+of+art%E2%80%94the+precise+evocation+of+mood+in+the+novel%2C+or+of+summer+twilight+in+a+painting%E2%80%94is+like+waking+to+a+bright+landscape+after+a+long+fitful+slumber%2C+or+the+fragrance+of+chicken+soup+after+a+week+of+head+cold.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F15225%2FYi-Fu+Tuan_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=107583&author=George Sand"e=Life+resembles+a+novel+more+often+than+novels+resemble+life.+&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1906%2FGeorge+Sand_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=5731&author=Natalie Clifford Barney"e=++Novels+are+longer+than+life.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F8583%2FNatalie+Clifford_Barney_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=5764&author=Andre Maurois"e=++The+really+great+novel+tends+to+be+the+exact+negative+of+its+author%27s+life.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1286%2FAndre+Maurois_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=5755&author=Henry James"e=++The+only+reason+for+the+existence+of+a+novel+is+that+it+does+attempt+to+represent+life.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F97%2FHenry_James_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=5741&author=Joseph Conrad"e=++What+is+a+novel+if+not+a+conviction+of+our+fellow-men%27s+existence+strong+enough+to+take+upon+itself+a+form+of+imagined+life+clearer+than+reality+and+whose+accumulated+verisimilitude+of+selected+episodes+puts+to+shame+the+pride+of+documentary+history%3F&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2Fimages_web%2Fauthor_no_icon.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=82081&author=Richard P Feynman"e=There+are+the+rushing+waves...%0Amountains+of+molecules%2C%0Aeach+stupidly+minding+its+own+business...%0Atrillions+apart%0A...yet+forming+white+surf+in+unison.%0AAges+on+ages...%0Abefore+any+eyes+could+see...%0Ayear+after+year...%0Athunderously+pounding+the+shore+as+now.%0AFor+whom%2C+for+what%3F%0A...on+a+dead+planet%0Awith+no+life+to+entertain.%0ANever+at+rest...%0Atortured+by+energy...%0Awasted+prodigiously+by+the+sun...%0Apoured+into+space.%0AA+mite+makes+the+sea+roar.%0ADeep+in+the+sea%2C%0Aall+molecules+repeat%0Athe+patterns+of+another%0Atill+complex+new+ones+are+formed.%0AThey+make+others+like+themselves...%0Aand+a+new+dance+starts.%0AGrowing+in+size+and+complexity...%0Aliving+things%2C%0Amasses+of+atoms%2C%0ADNA%2C+protein...%0Adancing+a+pattern+ever+more+intricate.%0AOut+of+the+cradle%0Aonto+dry+land...%0Ahere+it+is+standing...%0Aatoms+with+consciousness%0A...matter+with+curiosity.%0AStands+at+the+sea...%0Awonders+at+wondering...+I...%0Aa+universe+of+atoms...%0Aan+atom+in+the+universe.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F4937%2FRichard+P._Feynman_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=84753&author=Goldman Emma"e=Do+not+all+theists+insist+that+there+can+be+no+morality%2C+no+justice%2C+honesty+or+fidelity+without+the+belief+in+a+Divine+Power%3F+Based+upon+fear+and+hope%2C+such+morality+has+always+been+a+vile+product%2C+imbued+partly+with+self-righteousness%2C+partly+with+hypocrisy.+As+to+truth%2C+justice%2C+and+fidelity%2C+who+have+been+their+brave+exponents+and+daring+proclaimers%3F+Nearly+always+the+godless+ones%3A+the+Atheists%3B+they+lived%2C+fought%2C+and+died+for+them.+They+knew+that+justice%2C+truth%2C+and+fidelity+are+not+conditioned+in+heaven%2C+but+that+they+are+related+to+and+interwoven+with+the+tremendous+changes+going+on+in+the+social+and+material+life+of+the+human+race%3B+not+fixed+and+eternal%2C+but+fluctuating%2C+even+as+life+itself.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2Fimages_web%2Fauthor_no_icon.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=5071&author=Jonathan Raban"e=++One+of+the+oddest+features+of+western+Christianized+culture+is+its+ready+acceptance+of+the+myth+of+the+stable+family+and+the+happy+marriage.+We+have+been+taught+to+accept+the+myth+not+as+an+heroic+ideal%2C+something+good%2C+brave%2C+and+nearly+impossible+to+fulfil%2C+but+as+the+very+fiber+of+normal+life.+Given+most+families+and+most+marriages%2C+the+belief+seems+admirable+but+foolhardily.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2197%2FJonathan+Raban_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=19804&author=Jonathan Raban"e=++There%27s+an+enduring+American+compulsion+to+be+on+the+side+of+the+angels.+Expediency+alone+has+never+been+an+adequate+American+reason+for+doing+anything.+When+actions+are+judged%2C+they+go+before+the+bar+of+God%2C+where+Mom+and+the+Flag+closely+flank+His+presence.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2197%2FJonathan+Raban_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=26891&author=Jonathan Raban"e=++Over+emphatic+negatives+always+suggest+that+what+is+being+denied+may+be+what+is+really+being+asserted.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2197%2FJonathan+Raban_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=39945&author=Jonathan Raban"e=++Living+in+cities+is+an+art%2C+and+we+need+the+vocabulary+of+art%2C+of+style%2C+to+describe+the+peculiar+relationship+between+man+and+material+that+exists+in+the+continual+creative+play+of+urban+living.+The+city+as+we+imagine+it%2C+then%2C+soft+city+of+illusion%2C+myth%2C+aspiration%2C+and+nightmare%2C+is+as+real%2C+maybe+more+real%2C+than+the+hard+city+one+can+locate+on+maps+in+statistics%2C+in+monographs+on+urban+sociology+and+demography+and+architecture.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2197%2FJonathan+Raban_64x64.png){kind=link}