I've been bitten by a python. Not a very big one. I was being silly, saying: 'Oh, it's not poisonous...' Then, wallop! But you have fear around animals.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the unexpected consequences of underestimating wild animals and emphasizes the importance of respect and caution around them.
In this quote, David Attenborough shares a personal experience that illustrates the unpredictability of nature and the risks associated with interacting with wildlife. It highlights the tendency to downplay dangers in the natural world, suggesting that fear of animals is a natural response that should be approached with respect. The anecdote serves as a reminder that even seemingly harmless creatures can pose threats if not treated with caution, encouraging a thoughtful relationship with nature.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a wildlife conservation event to illustrate the need for caution.
I don't think we are going to become extinct. We're very clever and extremely resourceful - and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I'm sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.
I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage.
I would be absolutely astounded if population growth and industrialisation and all the stuff we are pumping into the atmosphere hadn't changed the climatic balance. Of course it has. There is no valid argument for denial.
There's a small worm called Loa Loa Filariasis. This parasite can survive in one environment exclusively- namely, underneath the skin and inside the eyes of human beings. Children and the elderly in tropical regions (usually the poorest) are the most widely affected. A painful, slow death is virtually certain. The worm can actually live in the host for 17 years before the host finally dies.
The fundamental issue is the moral issue.
It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe. That's why I never do commercials. If I started saying that margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.
If people think nature is their friend, then they sure don't need an enemy.
How long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life?
I flew helicopters, which actually is the second best view of the earth. The first best view is, I think, a little bit higher.
Blackberry winter, the time when the hoarforst lies on the blackberry blossoms; without this frost the berries will not set. It is the forerunner of a rich harvest.
The environment is in us, not outside of us. The trees are our lungs, the rivers our bloodstream. We are all interconnected, and what you do to the environment ultimately you do to yourself.
Lord, I do fear Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year My soul is all but out of me-let fall No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.