Burmese Days

Beauty is meaningless until it is shared.

It is one of the tragedies of the half-educated that they develop late, when they are already committed to some wrong way of life.

Envy is a horrible thing. It is unlike all other kinds of suffering in that there is no disguising it, no elevating it into tragedy. It is more than merely painful, it is disgusting.

An earthquake is such fun when it is over.

I always think they're rather charming-looking, the Burmese. They have such splendid bodies! Just think what sights you'd see in England if people went about half naked as they do here!

Living a lie the whole time — the lie that we're here to uplift our poor black brothers instead of to rob them ... it corrupts us, it corrupts us in ways you can't imagine.

Is there anything in the world more graceless, more dishonouring, than to desire a woman whom you will never have?

Ellis was one of those people who constantly nag others to echo their own opinions.