Thai Folktales

I've recently finished Thai Folktales by M.L. Manich Jumsai and thought of sharing some passages from the book with you:

- “Man could even conquer the universe, cross rivers and deserts if he wanted to.”

- “In Thai tradition, the ghost of a woman who dies in childbirth is very fierce and must not be cremated…”

- “According to Thai belief, a human being can be reborn as a god in an afterlife, enjoying much greater happiness than an earthly man can.”

- “Bad men can be reborn in hell after death or be born as lowly animals with all the discomforts of life, for the Thais believe that life never dies.”

Quotes about Asia (2)

“It was he who said one is never truly alone in Asia.”

“He knew well that there exist on the Asian continent many things that defy analysis; which, perhaps, have no place in the modern world. They relate to another set of laws; they are timeless.”

“In his opinion, any people who were not concerned with telling the truth – and, thus, giving offense – than they were with saving face were simply not trustworthy.”

(Eric Van Lustbader, White Ninja)

You can read more quotes here!

Quotes about Civilization

Quotes from The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.

“It is because Nature is ruthless, hideous, and cruel beyond belief that it was necessary to invent civilization. One thinks of wild animals as savage, but the fiercest of them begins to look almost domesticated when one considers the viciousness required of a survivor in the sea; as for the insects, their lives are sustained only by intricate processes of fantastic horror. There is no cosiness implied by “Mother Nature”. Each species must strive to survive, and that it will do, by every means in its power, however foul – unless the instinct to survive is weakened by conflict with another instinct.”

“If you were wishful to challenge the supremacy of a society that was fairly stable, and quite well weaponed, what would you do? Would you meet it on its own terms by launching a probably costly, and certainly destructive, assault? Or, if time were of no great importance, would you prefer to employ a version of a more subtle tactic? Would you, in fact try somehow to introduce a fifth column, to attack it from within?”

“But, my dear fellow, if one is not blinded by a sense of indispensability, one must take it that we, like the other lords of creation before us, will one day be replaced. There are two ways in which it can happen: either through ourselves, by our self-destruction, or by the incursion of some species which we lack equipment to subdue.”

You can read more quotes here!

I miss home!

I've been away from home for 5 years and 4 months... and I miss my home.

“No word is so sweet as the word ‘home’. At times, I found myself pining for it too.”
(Manas Chanyong, Shoot to kill)

“One could not… go on in a place where one had once been blissfully happy, and was now miserable, however convenient the place.”
(A.S. Byatt, The July Ghost)

“But it is also a beautiful thing to build one’s own house, and when an ambitious young man has the choice of comfortably and submissively settling into a finished nest, or building an entirely new one, one can well see that he may decide to build.”
(Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi - The Glass Bead Game)

“It is fine when an old family remains affectionately attached to its residence, but rejuvenation and new greatness spring solely from sons who serve greater goals than the aims of the family.”
(Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi - The Glass Bead Game)

“I feel that it is a pleasant thing for a man to have a home when he feels inclined to go to it (when he doesn’t he can stay away)…”
(Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

“The tranquility of one’s house is not only confined to its location and the servants therein but also to its major occupants.”
(Eric Van Lustbader, The Ninja)

“A man may live in many places and still not call them home.”
(Harold Robbins, Stiletto)

You can read more quotes here!

Quotes about Asia (1)

“One is never truly alone in Asia, is that not so?”

“The world is different here.”

“… we have not yet caught up with the present… But give us time. We are most ingenious people. Once show us the way and there is our salvation. We are extremely flexible people. Watch out that we do not catch you and overtake you!”
(Eric Van Lustbader, The Ninja)

You can read more quotes here!

Quotes from Gor (2)

Gor’s words of wisdom, part 2, taken from his book, Thailand Life.

“You can’t keep a secret forever!!!”

“Have you seen that picture of those three monkeys? The first one has his hands over his eyes. The second one has his hands over his mouth. And the third has his hands over his ears. That is what I think is wrong with sex education in schools.”

“Some things you cannot bring back.”

“Believe in yourself even though no one else does.”

“There isn’t any school in Thailand that is going to want a pregnant student.”

“It is a funny thing about some people, they are never pleased with what they have! Thai people like you want to have white skin so they spend lots of money buying whitening cream. With the Europeans, it is the opposite. They don’t like white skin so they spend a lot of money to make their skin darker. I find it ridiculous what those people do. I think that they should be enjoying their life and be pleased with what they have rather than trying to change into something different.”

“Being a parent is a 24-hour job. It is not a video game that you can put on pause.”

“If you do good things, you receive good things back. If you do bad things, you will receive them in return.”

“If someone called me a ‘buffalo’, I definitely would not be happy about it. That is because in Thailand, when someone acts like an idiot, we call them ‘buffalo’ or ‘kwai’ in Thai.”

“It’s good to have parents looking after you and helping you when you need them. I didn’t really think about that before.”

“Women aren’t allowed to touch or give anything straight to monks.”

“Paying respect to the Lord Buddha is really the beginning of every Buddhist ceremony. We believe that the Buddha is very important so we always pay respect to him first before we start any important ceremony.”

“Sitting and whining about something that had gone wrong was not helping to make things better. So, I learned to deal with it by solving the problems myself.”

“I believe that education is the most important thing in life and that it will lead to success.”

“Every time things are starting to go well, there is always some kind of problem that wrecks everything.”

“Who said being parents was easy?”

“Becoming a father is a wonderful thing.”

“Drug addicts cannot quit if they don’t want to quit.”

Read more quotes here!

Quotes from Gor (1)

Gor’s words of wisdom, taken from his book, Thailand Life.

“Thai people believe that when they die they will go to paradise by holding on to a monk’s robe.”

“Choices you make as a teenager will affect you for the rest of your life.”

“Why is the world not fair?”

“… we have to take the risk sometimes to get something special.”

“I’ll never get bored with it, it’s one of my hobbies now.” (about his website)

“A 100% man must fight, and must not give up easily.”

“Everything you do has consequences.”

“I think the best way for me to learn about Thai history is to visit the real places and not sit down and study in the classroom.”

“If we worry too much about what might happen we will be too scared to leave out homes.”

“In Buddhism we believe that giving food to monks is a way to make merit.”

“Teenagers like challenges and teenagers love to be with friends. We might do lots of crazy things in adult’s eyes but really we just want to find something fun to do with friends. I wish they would understand us.”

“Everyone tried not to cry because Thai people believe that if you tears drop on the dead person, you will make them worried and they will have to swim through your tears to reach heaven.”

“You won’t understand how difficult it is to be a teacher if you haven’t done it yourself.”

“I know that every student loves kind teachers but now I also know that teachers love students that know when it is time to learn and time to play. If the teacher is too kind or too friendly with the students then they won’t listen to the teacher when it is time to work. So, most teachers choose to be strict and let students be scared of them even though that will make some students not like them. But it’s easier for the teachers to teach when it is like this.”

“Nothing can really stop the power of love.”

“Love really can make you blind.”

“If you listen to the teachers and have respect for them, one day in the future you will be successful.”

Read more quotes here!