Respect for Local Customs Quotes

I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don't bring puka shells back. You've got to be careful of your vacation purchases.

Many travelers get into trouble in places like Dubai by assuming that it is sufficiently Western for them to drink as they do back home. But elsewhere in the Muslim world, it is quite controlled, and the non-Muslim will be steered down a fairly narrow path.

The Foreign Office works hard to remind people of local laws and customs as often they can be very different to British law.

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.

When in Rome, I must do as the Romans do. When in America, make Bikram copyright and trademark.

Wear an Arab headcloth when with a tribe. Bedouin have a malignant prejudice against the hat, and believe the persistence in wearing it (due probably to British obstinacy of dictation) is founded on some immoral or irreligious principle…. if you can wear Arab kit when with the tribes, you will acquire their trust and intimacy to a degree impossible in uniform.

There is a saying in Arabic meaning that every situation must be considered based on the realities on the ground. I can talk in some places freely, but not in others.

I'm not afraid to look like a big, hairy, smelly, foreign devil in Tokyo, though I do my best not to, I really do.

On official trips you listen to officials who guide you and also clothing choices, because there are certain places where you have to have your head covered for example, or whatever it is, and I listen to the professionals.

What I would not do is flaunt my Indianess by wearing a saree to work everyday, because it distracts from the job. So, I would not do that. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Social events are different. If I feel comfortable in a saree for a social event, I wear it.

When you come into a country, it's difficult to come in and say, 'I will change everything.' If people have things in their mind, then it's not the best approach.

I don't want to go and start trying to make jokes in places like India, Tanzania or Iraq. Afghanistan is not a funny place.

It is with the deepest mortification the general commanding finds it necessary to reiterate his orders for the preservation of the property of the inhabitants of the district occupied by the troops under his command. The troops must behave themselves with as much forbearance and propriety as if they were at their own homes.