Bangkok 8 Quotes

“Don't ask me when I first mastered the obvious.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“I don't want enlightenment, I want him. Sorry Buddha, I loved him more than you.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8: A Novel

“We do not look on death the way you do, farang. My closest colleagues grasp my arm and one or two embrace me. No one says sorry. Would you be sorry for a sunset?”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“The sound she is making is the sound hearts make after they're in
pieces and the fragments dissolve into the overwhelming sadness of the
universe. The power to hear it may be the only privilege of the
thoroughly dispossessed.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“On a whim, Pisit calls the monk back to ask what he thinks of all this, and Western culture in general. After his drubbing just now he is in a Zen-ish sort of mood, not to say downright sarcastic: 'Actually, the West is Culture of Emergency: Twisters in Texas, earthquakes in California, windchill in Chicago, drought, flood, famine, epidemics, war on everything - watch out for that meteor and how much longer does the sun really have? Of course, if you didn't believe you could control everything, there wouldn't be an emergency, would there?”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8: A Novel

“To be frank, nothing has changed since The Quiet American—when we finally destroy the whole world it will be with the very best of intentions.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“The greatest pleasure in life is to be understood, is it not? But who in the world does an artist like you or me find to understand”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“In the twenty-first century the American ambassador works in a medieval castle. What is the karma of America?”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“Mr”
― John Burdett, Bangkok Eight

“Actually, the West is a Culture of Emergency: twisters in Texas, earthquakes in California, windchill in Chicago, drought, flood, famine, epidemics, drugs, wars on everything—watch out for that meteor and how much longer does the sun really have? Of course, if you didn’t believe you could control everything, there wouldn’t be an emergency, would there?”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“Farangs don’t understand us Thais. They think if a girl sells her body, then she has no dignity, no limits. Actually, the opposite is often the truth. Women like your mother are very free spirits. Could you imagine Nong ever holding down a normal job? Or putting up with abuse from a man? A woman might sell her body because it’s more dignified and safer than being married to a violent drunk who goes whoring without protection.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“To make a good death is to proceed gracefully into a better body and a better life. The consequences of a bad death are hard to look at. You will not make a good death is a power curse; it makes Fuck you sound like a benediction.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“Welcome to American capitalism. It’s a great system, except that no one ever has enough.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“The loneliness of farangs can be a fatal disease which distorts their minds and tortures them until they snap.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“Beauty is a great mountain, Detective, and fashion only illuminates one face at a time.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“Take your eyes away for a moment, then let them return to the object of contemplation, and it is as if you were experiencing the effect for the first time.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“Ideas’ is right. I hardly do any detailed design anymore, I have people who are better at it than I am. But a craftsman is not necessarily an artist. He needs that something extra that only comes from the cold heart of the universe.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“But a craftsman is not necessarily an artist. He needs that something extra that only comes from the cold heart of the universe.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8

“The dharma teaches us the impermanence of all phenomena, but you cannot prepare yourself for the loss of the phenomenon you love more than yourself.”
― John Burdett, Bangkok 8