Quotes By Ella Maillart

One travels so as to learn once more how to marvel at life in the way a child does. And blessed be the poet, the artist who knows how to keep alive his sense of wonder.

The true traveller is the one urged to move about for physical, aesthetic, intellectual as well as spiritual reasons.

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

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

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

The usual channels of university studies or secretarial work did not appeal to me. I cherished difficult dreams through confidence in myself.

The benefits of the accomplished journey cannot be weighed in terms of perfect moments, but in terms of how this journey affects and changes our character.

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

I had to live in the desert before I could understand the full value of grass in a green ditch.

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.

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

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.

Words are impotent to describe certain emotions.

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

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.

It is always our own self that we find at the end of the journey. The sooner we face that self, the better.

Every time I took a long leave from home, I felt as if I were going to conquer the world. Or rather, take possession of what is my birthright, my inheritance.

From the beginning, I wanted to live my own life, and patiently I shored up that desire against wind and tide.

We must develop a deeper interest and greater understanding of the people we meet here or abroad. Like us, they are passengers on board that mysterious ship called life.

The state of minds vary according to the angle under which one examines them.

Others are keen to see if natives other than us live better than we do, without heat in pipes, ice in boxes, sunshine in bulbs, music on disks, or images gliding over a pale screen.

We want to feel that this earth is all ours, like our parents' house when we were children.

Not only does travel give us a new system of reckoning, it also brings to the fore unknown aspects of our own self. Our consciousness being broadened and enriched, we shall judge ourselves more correctly.

That idea of escapism... these words could sum up my life.

I did not want to be depressed by the gap existing between my weakness and my ambition.

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

The sooner we learn to be jointly responsible, the easier the sailing will be.

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

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

You can feel as brave as Columbus starting for the unknown the first time you enter a Chinese lane full of boys laughing at you, or when you risk climbing down in a Tibetan pub for a meal of rotten meat.