Travelers prove their lack of education if they make fun of the customs and values of their hosts, and the qualities that do a person honour are many… - Thomas Mann

boredom is the coldest thing in the world.

Space, like time, gives birth to forgetfulness, but does so by removing an individual from all relationships and placing him in a free and pristine state — indeed, in but a moment it can turn a pedant and philistine into something like a vagabond. Time, they say, is water from the river Lethe, but alien air is a similar drink; and if its effects are less profound, it works all the more quickly.

Technology and comfort - having those, people speak of culture, but do not have it.