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“Tissa reflected that religion is divine poetry whilst morality is made up of customs and traditions that change with the place and the times. How do men who read the same books he reads, live on the same kind of food in the same world and social class, differ so much from him and from each other in mind and body? He concluded that his present state of body and mind that gives rise to his reflections cannot be just the outcome of books he read and the food he ate, nor his own efforts to adapt to his world and his social class. Human beings are born with an individuality that is unique to each, but this cannot be attributed to the presence or absence of a soul. The same individuality is there in each leaf, and one leaf differs from another. Yet all the leaves get the same nourishment from the roots of the tree, and the sun and the air.”
― Martin Wickramasinghe, කලà·ÂÕ¶ºà·¶Ï¶œà¶�

“A woman anticipates danger by instinct, rather than inductive reasoning. Due to this, when faced with danger due to passionate feelings related to their basic needs, women are impelled by reasoning, conditioned by instincts acquired from family traditions and the conventions of her social stratum, much more than men are.”
― Martin Wickramasinghe, Gamperaliya

“A village woman from a poor family may violate the code of propriety, not because of poverty, but because she has been the victim of the menace of male predators. A woman from a family of the gentry, would never be the victim of such intimidation. Moreover the women of the gentry were bonded to follow their code of conduct and not to transgress, by generations of breeding.”
― Martin Wickramasinghe, Gamperaliya

“An outsider's inquisitiveness to know another's private affairs is natural, but not so in children with respect to their parents. Children know the overt personal life of their parents. It is a crime for children to probe into mistakes made by their parents, like detectives looking for evidence of crimes. Any man can make mistakes, however good he may be. It is wrong for children to inquisitively probe into their parents' lives, and have fun or show anger over what they uncover. It is like digging into the heads of ancient statues in search of archaeological artefacts. Nanda spoke with anger.”
― Martin Wickramasinghe, කලà·ÂÕ¶ºà·¶Ï¶œà¶�

“I don't see any wrong in children revealing their parents' mistakes. Children talk about these wrongs not out of malice, but because of pain of mind.. replied Tissa.”
― Martin Wickramasinghe, කලà·ÂÕ¶ºà·¶Ï¶œà¶�

“Chamari: "Aravinda, have you been to Kataragama?"

Aravinda: "No, I've never been there."

Chamari: "What? That's unbelievable for someone born in Deniyaya!"

Aravinda: "Going to Kataragama is not a custom of the rural folk. It is the middle class and wealthy urban people, not the villagers, who venerate the Kataragama god. He is the god of the urbanities. The villagers have now started to imitate the urban people."

Chamari:"I thought even villagers used to go to Kataragama long ago."

Aravinda: "No, It came from the rich urban Sinhalese of the towns who followed the rich Hindus.”
― Martin Wickramasinghe, Yuganthaya

“Families could often trace their lineage back several centuries. Their livelihood was earned from drum playing, a service considered to be dis-respectable. As members of a low caste, the drummers were forbidden to build decent houses. There were allowed to build wattle and daub huts, and to live rent-free on their patrons' properties. The right to own the country's land was restricted in this manner, a vicious condition that arose through tradition and was reinforced by law. Patterns of financial power and political hierarchy existed hand in hand.”
― Swarnakanthi Rajapakse, The Master’s Daughter

“Generally, that humble piece of furniture placed on the front veranda of the house officially belonged to the man of the household; the women never slept on it.”
― Swarnakanthi Rajapakse, The Master's Daughter

“In a front of each home garden the villagers fixed a triangular wooden lamp-house on the top of a pole planted on the ground to hold a small statue of Lord Buddha and some deities. They used to offer flowers at this small shrine and light a tiny clay oil lamp.”
― Swarnakanthi Rajapakse, The Master's Daughter

“Master Salamon usually set off a little later as neither he nor other male members of their community were in the habit of walking on the road alongside their wives.”
― Swarnakanthi Rajapakse, The Master's Daughter