“.. the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man.”

— Yann Martel , book Life of Pi

Variant: We commonly say in the trade that the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man.
Source: Life of Pi

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote ".. the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man." by Yann Martel?

Yann Martel photo

Yann Martel 108

Canadian author best known for the book Life of Pi 1963

Related quotes

“Nowhere in a zoo can a stranger encounter the look of an animal. At the most, the animal’s gaze flickers and passes on. They look sideways. They look blindly beyond. They scan mechanically. … That look between animal and man, which may have played a crucial role in the development of human society, and with which, in any case, all men had always lived until less than a century ago, has been extinguished. Looking at each animal, the unaccompanied zoo visitor is alone.”

John Berger (1926–2017) British painter, writer and art critic

Source: About Looking (1980), Chapter "Why Look at Animals?"

“It could be said now that all animals live in zoos, whether it is a zoo in Regent's Park, London or a Nigerian Game Reserve. Perhaps what's left to argue is only the zoo's quality.”

Peter Greenaway (1942) British film director

From the introduction to the published script.
A Zed and Two Noughts

“The zoo animal in a cage exhibits all these abnormalities that we know so well from our human companions. Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.”

Desmond Morris book The Human Zoo

Desmond Morris (2009), The Human Zoo, p. vii

“By far the most dangerous animal on the planet was an invasive species of ape.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (2016), Chapter 17 (p. 386)

“IF THE ZOO BANS ME FOR HOLLERING AT THE ANIMALS I WILL FACE GOD AND WALK BACKWARDS INTO HELL”

Dril Twitter user

[ Link to tweet https://twitter.com/dril/status/205052027259195393]
Tweets by year, 2012

“There seems to be a general impression that to be known as normal in Hollywood is akin to being labeled as rare animal in a zoo.”

Irene Dunne (1898–1990) American actress

How Do I Stay Normal in Hollywood (1942)

“Undressing her was an act of recklessness, a kind of vandalism, like releasing a zoo full of animals, or blowing up a dam.”

Michael Chabon book Wonder Boys

Source: Wonder Boys (1995)

“There are some people who begin the Zoo at the beginning, called WAYIN, and walk as quickly as they can past every cage until they get to the one called WAYOUT, but the nicest people go straight to the animal they love the most, and stay there.”

A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)

“Confined within this catch-all concept, within this vast encampment of the animal, in this general singular, within the strict enclosure of this definite article (“the Animal” and not “animals”), as in a virgin forest, a zoo, a hunting or fishing ground, a paddock or an abattoir, a space of domestication, are all the living things that man does not recognize as his fellows, his neighbors, or his brothers.”

Jacques Derrida book The Animal That Therefore I Am

The Animal That Therefore I Am (1997)

“Those chimps and orangutans [in our music video] get treated better than the ones in zoos. They’re loved, and they’re taken care of much better and cleaned much better. And they’re only allowed to work a certain amount of time every day. Plus, we had someone from Animal Protection there the entire time, making sure everything was cool. It’s really weird that people got pissed off about that. Those animals were treated quite well, probably better than most humans, and definitely better than animals in the zoo.”

Joe Trohman (1984) American musician

My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue (2004), Ultimate Guitar Interview (2008)

Related topics