Quotes from Ella Maillart

One travels to learn once more how to marvel at life in the way a child does.

You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown, you travel for the unknown, that reveals you with yourself.

I write with my foot.

Before he became Amir, Abdur Rahman had been defeated by Shir Ali in Kabul. He took refuge in Samarkand where he spent ten years. Taking him for a country bumpkin, the Russians used to discuss all their political affairs before him, convinced that he did not understand them. But the future Amir had studied Russian secretly and learned much about Asiatic politics. Walking through the empty halls of Jahnama, I thought of him—bearded, shrewd, wearing the astrakhan kola,

We travelled with a bookshelf fixed above the back of our seat. The poor books were shaken madly during all these days, but we rejoiced to be able to lay our hand on the right volume at the right moment. Rubbing against each other were Marco Polo, Pelliot, Evans-Wentz, Vivekananda, Maritain, Jung, a life of Alexander the Great, Grousset, the Zend-Avesta. I picked The Darvishes by John P. Brown and H. A. Rose, and read aloud a passage about Jalal-ud-din Rumi.

The youths all cried out as he disappeared, but a moment later he returned, altered in complexion, changed in figure, and said that a legion of beings clothed in green had seized him and carried him in a circle upwards. 'They showed me strange things of a celestial character and on your cries reaching us they lowered me down to the earth'?

Raging inwardly I go on climbing, dragging my brute after me, punctuating my 'Khaidas' --come on-- with every curse I have ever known, in every language. Not yet being acquainted with Arabic, exceedingly helpful in such cases I am told, German-Swiss seems at the moment endowed with remarkable properties.

Impassivity was quite natural to her concern for perfect form: she could never have displayed an untidy face like mine. It was partly because of this strange tense serenity that a friend of ours used to call her the "Fallen Angel". Her subtle body, her pensive face lighted by the pale brow, put forth a charm that acted powerfully on those who are attracted by the tragic greatness of androgyny. She spoke, determined to allay my fears: "Kini: I must go away.

Io sono tutta presa dalla curiosità per questo futuro incerto, dalla sensazione di essere ormai libera dagli ostacoli degli uomini; tutta presa dalla gioia di sentire che ciascun giorno, d'ora in poi, sarà nuovo, e che nessuno di essi sarà uguale all'altro; tutta presa dalla decisione di osservare, d'ora in poi, una sola regola: quella di camminare diritto davanti a me.

Christina was also in a gay mood: the paymaster had addressed her as Monsieur! The further we moved eastward, the more often was she taken for a boy. And this not only by Asiatics: in Delhi smart Major Gastrell spoke to her for fifteen minutes before suspecting that she was a woman.

I refuse to imprison our acts in the rigid mould of sentences.

One travels to run away from routine, that dreadful routine that kills all imagination and all our capacity for enthusiasm.

Travel can also be the spirit of adventure somewhat tamed, for those who desire to do something they are a bit afraid of.

I wanted to learn a few foreign languages, and therefore I had to go abroad.

Shall we ever see the 10 million things of the universe simultaneously in order to be the all? I am convinced that to live is to travel towards the world's end.

When I look at something, it is certain that for an instant I am one with what I see.

Certain travellers give the impression that they keep moving because only then do they feel fully alive.

One of the main points about travelling is to develop in us a feeling of solidarity, of that oneness without which no better world is possible.

One travels to escape from it all, but that is the great illusion: It cannot be done, since one travels with one's mind.

When the heart speaks, its language is the same under all latitudes.

When I crossed Asia with my friend Peter Fleming, we spoke to no one but each other during many months, and we covered exactly the same ground. Nevertheless my journey differed completely from his.

Those who appreciate the ways of simple tribes, where every activity is direct and immediately understandable, are able to live among them.

I am sure that instinctively we wish to be everything, to possess it-why cut the rose or marry the man, otherwise?

There is only one valid species of voyage, which is walk towards the men.