Quotes About Risk

Once the horror of the inquisitional catharsis subsided, Mesquita (with Magellan's blessing)

Magellan preferred to anchor offshore, away from danger, as he continued his single-minded quest for the strait.

But they being stricken with feare through this example, durst not come forth of their shippes

The Edge of the World

Even the daring Schöner hesitated to depict the western coast of South America;

The only choice left to them was a slavish adherence to Magellan's authority, even if it led over the edge of the world. There were two important exceptions to the general clemency:

the more pragmatic Haro estimated that Magellan's expedition could yield a profit of 250 percent.

Few among them had confidence that Magellan could lead them to the edge of the world and beyond

Nevertheless, he did not honor this promise. Just as Magellan feared

The Spice Islands were too valuable to entrust to the luck and skill of a single explorer.

It was astonishing that Magellan's nemesis would risk his life again, after all the carnage

The Magellan of February teetered on the brink of being murdered by the men he commanded.

And Magellan came well armed for what would be the most important meeting of his life.

The will covered every eventuality that might befall a great explorer such as Magellan—except

what would actually occur once he set forth from Seville.

approximation to Paradise that Magellan was likely to encounter during his entire voyage around the world.

One by one, her crew of thirty-seven crawled to the end of the jib boom and jumped to a rocky beach.

Magellan hoped that by going west, in the opposite direction, over water

anyone revealing discoveries or plans for missions of exploration could be executed.

By this time, he had lost two ships. The three remaining vessels ventured into the passage without benefit of maps.

Mandeville argued that it was possible for people to circumnavigate the globe, but he warned

The lure of spices impelled sober, cautious financiers to back highly risky expeditions to unknown parts of the globe

its currents, storms, and reefs, it is unlikely that he would have dared to mount an expedition.

and accomplished mariners dared to venture into the Ocean Sea, as the Atlantic Ocean was then known.