You can't quantify human pain the way you can measure out sugar. Death comes one individual at a time.
We commonly say in the trade that the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that humans can be more dangerous than wild animals, emphasizing the inherent flaws in human nature.
Yann Martel's quote points to the ironic truth that, while animals in a zoo are often perceived as dangerous, it is humans who possess the capacity for greater malice and destruction. The assertion compels us to reflect on our own nature and the potential harm we can inflict on ourselves and the world around us, suggesting that our intellect and emotions can lead to more severe consequences than wild instincts.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about human impact on nature, one might say, 'We commonly say in the trade that the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man' to emphasize humanity's destructive potential.
More from Yann Martel
All quotes βCome aboard if your destination is oblivion- it should be our next stop. We can sit together. You can have the window seat if you want. But it's a sad view.
Fiction and nonfiction are not so easily divided. Fiction may not be real, but it's true; it goes beyond the garland of facts to get to emotional and psychological truths.
The moon was a sharply defined crescent and the sky was perfectly clear. The stars shone with such fierce, contained brilliance that it seemed absurd to call the night dark.
I thought they were helping me. I was so full of trust in them that I felt grateful as they carried me in the air. Only when they threw me overboard did I begin to have doubts.
Art is a gift: you create and then you give away. How readers receive that gift is their business. If they hate it, thatβs their response to it. Others respond by liking it. Either way, that is their interaction with the book, which is no longer mine.
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South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.
The demands that good people make are upon themselves; Those that bad people make are upon others.
Many years ago, our father Ibrahim (AS) made a choice. He loved his son. But He loved God more. The commandment came to sacrifice his son. But it wasn't his son that was slaughtered. It was his attachment to anything that could compete with his love for God. So let us ask ourselves in these beautiful days of sacrifice, which attachments do we need to slaughter?
Resolved ... that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism - free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence.