Quotes About Survival

Two million years ago, several proto-human lineages had coexisted side by side until a shake-up left only one. It now appears that a similar shake-up occurred within the last 60,000 years, and that all of us alive in the world today are descended from the winner of that upheaval. What was the last missing ingredient whose acquisition helped our ancestor to win?

big-bang reproduction, or semelparity: a single reproductive effort, followed by preprogrammed death.

Even in a country at war, you forget war because the momentum of living is too great – until like a sullen beast it bares its face as if on a vicious whim, and you are reminded of the ease with which life can be extinguished.

Cats aren't really friendly, they're just cozying up to the dominant life-form as a hedge against extinction.

Are all our dates going to be like that? said Perkins. I hope not, I replied with a smile, but it was quite fun, wasn't it? I mean, it's not like we were killed or eaten or anything, right? If your idea of a good date is not being killed and eaten, you'll never be disappointed.

Governments and fashions come and go but Jane Eyre is for all time. I would give everything to ensure the novel's survival.

What do I do? Asked the princess. You keep your head down. She looked at me petulantly. Like hell I will. If we're going to die, I'm going down fighting, even if I'm terrible with a weapon. Fair enough, I said, handing her a cutlass. She swished it around. Pointy end toward the bad guy, right? Right.

Tangling with the Goliath Corporation generally left you in one of two places: inside a wooden box with a grieving family outside, or inside a wooden box under six foot of soil with family wondering where you were. The former was if they didn't hold a grudge.

Up until the moment of death, there was a 100% survival rate. Really. I wouldn't let anything as meaningless as statistics put you off.

Why does everyone think I've been in prison?" "Because you were heading towards either death or prison when we last met—and you are not dead.

cats aren't really friendly; they're just cozying up to the dominant life form as a hedge against extinction.

It's not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it's the one most responsive to change. —Charles Darwin

Run if you can because, in spite of how it looks on television, it's hard to hit a moving target. If you can't run, fight and fight dirty. Go for the eyes. Think of every object around you as a weapon. Strike fast and hard when you get the chance because you'll only get one chance.

Oh, we're human, all right," she said. "Humans have always been very good at killing.

One can't stop change. The best thing one can do is manage it so that one doesn't get crushed by it.

Showing signs of weakness was a good way to get eaten.

Forgetting extermination is part of extermination.

The image of a country of great dreams and universal prosperity, created by all the forces of a gigantic propaganda machine, has become the greatest deception that has poisoned the minds of millions around the world, but above all the Americans themselves. Their consciousness is still in sweet captivity and this captivity turned out to be stronger than the survival instinct.

I still can't believe that animals don't understand why delicious food is in such a ridiculous spot.

Jean Craighead George

I've always thought there was a kind of beauty to it, the way narratives get told and retold. It's how stories survive through the ages. You can follow an idea from one author's work to another, and to me that's something I find powerful and exciting.

It's harder to kill people. The empathy is so much stronger that the mind must invent new reasons. But, if we can somehow link it to our own survival, the mind will make the devious twists and turns necessary to rationalize it. We're very good at that. But it changes people. They learn to hate. Your wolf doesn't need to hate what he kills. It would be easier if we could kill without compunction, like your wolf does, but then, we wouldn't be human.

A leader must always put the clan's interests before his own; it is the first thing you must learn. That is why self-control is so essential to a leader. The clan's survival is his responsibility. A leader has less freedom than a woman, Broud. He must do many things he may not want to. If necessary, he must even disown the son of his mate. Do you understand?

cold soup waiting for him, and a bone with