If one took no chances, one would not fly at all. Safety lies in the judgment of the chances one takes. That judgment, in turn, must rest upon one’s outlook on life. Any coward can sit in his home and criticize a pilot for flying into a mountain in fog. But I would rather, by far, die on a mountainside than in bed.
—Charles Lindbergh
People with a grudge against the world are always dangerous. They seem to think life owes them something. I’ve known many who have suffered worse and been cut off from life much more… and they’ve managed to lead happy contented lives. It’s what’s in yourself that makes you happy or unhappy.
—Agatha Christie in A Murder Is Announced
Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.
—Jef Raskin
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
—Voltaire
A good relationship is like fireworks: loud, explosive, and liable to maim you if you hold on too long.
—Jeph Jacques
A woman is like a tea bag—you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
—Eleanor Roosevelt
Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at.
—Carlos A. Urbizo
No great art has ever been made without the artist having known danger.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
Loving someone is such an inherently dangerous act. And yet, love, that's where safety lives.
—Gayle Forman in Just One Year
Among the many legends that surround the Nepalese Gurkhas of the British Army is the story of a paratroop regiment in the Second World War. The leader of the regiment asked for volunteers for a particularly dangerous drop behind enemy lines. About half the Gurkhas promptly stepped forward. The leader then went through what the volunteers would be asked to do. Halfway into his explanation, a surprised voice piped up from the back: "Oh, you mean we can use parachutes?" Every remaining Gurkha joined the volunteers.
—Radio Times, London
To everyone's surprise, wildlife abounds in the deserted environs of the doomed [Chernobyl] nuclear plant. Elk, wild pigs, wolves, and rabbits all seem to be flourishing. These animals have somehow learned to cope with the high levels of radiation. Who knows, perhaps there are mutations: A pig that can climb. A rabbit with a prehensile tail. An elk with a unicorn's horn. Cells are quick-change artists. Life loves life. Humans may end, but the world won't.
—Sybil Smith
We are impressed with nature's power, but by projecting upon this power an image of the feminine, the mother, we reassure ourselves—for surely a mother will always be loving toward us, continue to feed us, clothe us, and carry away our wastes, and never kill us, no matter how much toxic waste we put in the soil or how many CFCs in the ozone. The sense of nature as inexhaustible mother encourages us to feel there are no limits to a finite planet, while the sense of nature as benign and ever-loving mother permits us to continue disregarding a crescendo of warnings.
—Elizabeth Dodson Gray
A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world.
—John le Carre
The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything—or nothing.
—Nancy Astor
Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
—Matt Groening