Don’t accept a life that has been molded for you by others because eventually you’ll succumb to its falseness.

For Tahitians there is nothing more desirable than love, being loved and making love. They are in love with the idea of love even more than they are with a real person. Love is free, passion unrestrained and wild, and all love stories, no matter how long they last, one day, a year or forever, are equally beautiful.

Love is like a pair of polarized sunglasses, making every color seem more vivid, richer, warmer. Without it we stare at the world dull-eyed and flinch at the thought it might remain the same forever.

They say distance makes old friendships fade away. They say with time and distance lovers forget one another. I find it quite the opposite. Distance, time, they all enhance the aroma of every moment two close souls once spent together, they magnify every little shared pleasure.

In his humble opinion, she possessed the least appealing traits a woman can put on display: undiscriminating curiosity and nonsensical verbosity.

Do you know what we Turks think is the best Turkish delight? The Turkish woman. She is the best Turkish delight.

You know what each house should have? A Duty Free space. Like at the airports. Then I might consider moving in with a woman.

The narrow coastal road has many twists and turns, each one revealing scenery of incredible beauty. On one side, the mountains rise proud and steep challenging the sky, on the other, the tropical lagoon sparkles like a zillion twinkling stars. I dream of being carried away on the round, soft shoulders of gorgeous mermaids into the deep blue ocean waters.

That’s what I like about Polynesians. They wear their hearts on their sleeve knowing that, for adults, there are better games to play than hiding their emotions from each other

Stay put and you will remain as such. Jump in and you might get wet. Dive and you might find true happiness.

What’s success? Having lots of money? No, this is part of the practicalities of life. It is not success. Success is having two daughters who grow into fine ladies, two boys who grow into fine gentlemen. Success is waking up next to the loved one dumbstruck at your luck of meeting them.

I fall asleep thinking there is no better elixir than travel. Old things always bored me, boredom always scared me, while travel—travel is a carnival of wild affairs.

Smile at a friend, at a stranger, at an enemy, at life’s absurdities and the universe will smile back at you.

Tahitians don’t chase happiness. Happiness comes naturally to them. You only need to see them in the water, with a beer in their hand, splashing each other or waving to every stranger they see on the road, to know this. Happiness is in the air: in every hibiscus flower that opens early in the morning, in the sweet aroma of the pineapple plantations, in the smile of the people lolling around idly, resting slothfully in the warm breeze that ruffles the surface of the lagoon.