Taxi Driver Quotes

“I can’t believe how much this place has grown,” Hazel muttered.
The taxi driver grinned in the rearview mirror. “Been a long time since you visited, miss?”
“About seventy years,” Hazel said.
The driver slid the glass partition closed and drove on in silence.”
― Rick Riordan, The Son of Neptune

“They drain you sometimes. They really do.

"What's it all about then mate? What's the secret of life? You should know. You're a fucking cab driver."

Yeah, right. (As if I'll learn the secret of life talking to arseholes like you all night).

"Got any saucepan lids, mate? I've got two. I hate them. Bastards, they are. Ruined my life. I hate the bastards."

I keep quiet

"Don't try and rip us off, mate. I've got a key between my knuckles."

(Whatever).

The life of a cab driver. Glimpses into other people's lives.”
― Karl Wiggins, Grit: The Banter and Brutality of the Late-Night Cab

“They drain you sometimes. They really do.
"What's it all about then mate? What's the secret of life? You should know. You're a fucking cab driver."
Yeah, right. (As if I'll learn the secret of life talking to arseholes like you all night).
"Got any saucepan lids, mate? I've got two. I hate them. Bastards, they are. Ruined my life. I hate the bastards."
I keep quiet
"Don't try and rip us off, mate. I've got a key between my knuckles."
(Whatever).
The life of a cab driver. Glimpses into other people's lives.”
― Karl Wiggins, Grit: The Banter and Brutality of the Late-Night Cab

“Indeed, don’t be surprised to find yourself in a taxi in which the right-side window doesn’t work or is missing its wind-down handle. The driver has done this deliberately to keep himself from getting a draft on his neck that will give him problems al cervicale, the cervical spine. He is also likely to eschew air conditioning on the grounds that it will give him pneumonia.”
― Sari Gilbert, My Home Sweet Rome: Living (and loving) in Italy's Eternal City

“Uber Driving In Los Angeles Is Random And Very Unpredictable. Expect The Unexpected.”
― Mark Alan Nisall, Rideshare Revelations From An LA Uber Driver: The Highlights, The Lowlights and The Darkness

“Taxi drivers are some of my best friends in every city I visit. I wish to write a book on my encounters with taxi drivers in the Middle East one day. They see so much. They encounter all kinds of people. They learn to interact with people of different politics, backgrounds, gender, views, feelings, and even accents and dialects. In a sense, they are exposed to people in ways that any novelist, poet, anthropologist, or journalist would love to be. They are usually some of the best guides that hold the keys to the hidden secrets, especially the ‘dirty secrets’ of the cities where they live and work.”
― Louis Yako, Bullets in Envelopes: Iraqi Academics in Exile

“Taxi Driver"
There is something strangely liberating
about being just a taxi driver…
The secret lies in the “just”!
Because you’re just a taxi driver,
nobody really sees you…
But you see, hear, and feel
the absurdities, the shallowness,
the beauty, the sorrow,
the joy, the heartbreak of every rider!
Most treat you with half or totally fake respect,
because you’re just a taxi driver…
But they leave you alone
They don’t find justifications
or create crises
to take over your seat…
In fact, they want you to be exactly in that seat!
After all, they only ride with you
because - at least for that time –
they don’t wish to occupy your seat…
Yet, like every sense of liberation,
Being a taxi driver, is a liberation
kneaded with a strange sadness and disappointment
when you realize that the motherfuckers
only leave you alone
when you run away from them
and occupy a seat that they don’t desire
during the their ride ….

[Original poem published in Arabic on June 21, 2923 at ahewar.org]”
― Louis Yako