Quotes from Gerald Durrell

If some people want to believe in Jesus, or Mohammed, or Buddha, or their ancestors, who is to say which is right and which wrong? It seems to me that most of the religions in the world are too dogmatic. They preach the 'live and let live' philosophy, but rarely do they practise it.

If naturalists go to heaven (about which there is considerable ecclesiastical doubt), I hope that I will be furnished with a troop of kakapo to amuse me in the evening instead of television.

Well," said Larry with dignity, "it may give you pleasure to be woken at half-past three in the morning by a pigeon who seems intent on pushing his rectum into your eye...

So I went instead and tasted Taki's new white wine. Spiridion! what a wine...like the blood of a dragon and smooth as a fish...

Here in Corfu,' said Theodore, his eyes twinkling with pride, 'anything can happen.

Larry was designed by Providence to go through life like a small, blond firework, exploding ideas in other people's minds, and then curling up with catlike unctuousness and refusing to take any blame for the consequences.

Es uz kapu vainagiem skatos ?oti nopietni, - Larijs aizr?d?ja. - Amerik? tos Ziemassv?tkos karina uz durv?m. Pie?emu, ka t?p?c, lai atg?din?tu - cik labi, ka v?l neesam zem tiem.

People who are car-sick are never sea-sick,' explained Mother.

I'm making some scones,' said Mother, and sighs of satisfaction ran round the table, for Mother's scones, wearing cloaks of home-made strawberry jam, butter, and cream, were a delicacy all of us adored.

The garden, for long untended, was an overgrown riot of uninhibited flowers and weeds in which whirled, squeaked, rustled

Gradually the magic of the island settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen. Each day had a tranquillity, a timelessness, about it, so that you wished it would never end. But then the dark skin of night would peel off and there would be a fresh day waiting for us, glossy and colourful as a child's transfer and with the same tinge of unreality.

sun-bleached boat

She lifted her hand again and waved. It seemed to me, in the gloom, that the flowers had moved closer to her, had crowded eagerly about her bed, as though waiting for her to tell them something. A ravaged old queen, lying in state, surrounded by her whispering court of flowers.

No one but a murderer would have thought of giving Gerry that albatross.

At last, after much effort, there came a prolonged belch from the mud and Larry shot to the surface and we hauled him up the bank. He stood there, covered with the black and stinking slush, looking like a chocolate statue that has come in contact with a blast furnace; he appeared to be melting as we watched.

In those days, living as we did in the country, without the dubious benefits of radio or television, we had to rely on such primitive forms of amusement as books, quarrelling, parties, and the laughter of our friends, so naturally parties—particularly the more flamboyant ones—became red-letter days, preceded by endless preparations. Even when they were successfully over, they provided days of delightfully acrimonious argument as to how they could have been better managed.

Per tutta risposta Mosè smise di bere quel nettare russo per guardarlo bene in faccia. "Ciao vecchio finocchio", lo salutò. E poi ricominciò a bere e ad ubriacarsi.

I hope that, in a small way, I am interesting people in animal life and in its conservation. If I accomplish this I will consider that I have achieved something worth while. And if I can, later on, help even slightly towards preventing an animal from becoming extinct, I will be content.

fascinating chains full of coloured seaweed, dead pipe-fish, fishing-net corks that looked good enough to eat – like lumps of rich fruit cake – bits of bottle-glass emeried and carved into translucent jewels by the tide and the sand

It was due to this attitude of pomposity that he set the villa on fire. Leslie

there came from the olive groves outside the fuchsia hedge the incessant shimmering cries of the cicadas. If the curious, blurring heat haze produced a sound, it would be exactly the strange, chiming cries of these insects.

Roses dropped petals that seemed as big and smooth as saucers, flame red, moon and white, glossy, and unwrinkled.

I am constantly being surprised by the number of people, in different parts of the world, who seem to be quite oblivious to the animal life around them.

Estos unicornios son todos iguales —comentó Loro con tristeza—­, más vanidosos que un pavo. Dales un espejo, o simplemente cualquier cosa en la que puedan verse reflejados, y se quedan como hipnotizados. —Pero éste no es más que un niño —dijó Penélope—, y hay que reconocer que es realmente guapo.