The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost.
ATTRIBUTION:
John Steinbeck (1902–1968), U.S. author. Travels with Charley: In Search of America, pt. 1 (1961).
