#accidents

To see an almost certain horrible death--you know how crowds all sit at the edge of their seats, /praying/ subconsciously for a spectacular accident--and then to be whisked away from it so suddenly--brought to the edge of tragedy, and then to have their better natures win out, showing them how much nicer they always /knew/ they were--that was the supreme thrill. ↗

— Harlan Ellison

#human-nature #death

The fire alarm went off. Fire engines came racing; we all rushed out on the gravel drive, everyone thinking it was us. In fact, one of the elderly residents of Saltram had left a pan on the oven in her flat. Apparently this happens all the time. The tenant in question is appearing as an extra -- playing one of the cooks. ↗

— Emma Thompson

#cooking #filming #fire #movies #movies

Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don't let yourself believe it will happen to you. ↗

— Muhammad Ali

#arms #believe #car #crashes #day

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances. ↗

— Aristotle

#bears #best #circumstances #dignity #grace

We are the men of intrinsic value, who can strike our fortunes out of ourselves, whose worth is independent of accidents in life, or revolutions in government: we have heads to get money, and hearts to spend it. ↗

— George Farquhar

#fortunes #get #government #heads #hearts

Cruel persecutions and intolerance are not accidents, but grow out of the very essence of religion, namely, its absolute claims. ↗

— Morris Raphael Cohen

#accidents #claims #cruel #essence #grow

Real biologists who actually do the research will tell you that they almost never find a phenomenon, no matter how odd or irrelevant it looks when they first see it, that doesn't prove to serve a function. The outcome itself may be due to small accidents of evolution. ↗

— E. O. Wilson

#actually #almost #biologists #due #evolution

Accidents will happen in the best regulated families. ↗

— John Dos Passos

#best #families #happen #regulated #will

It was the ultimate cautionary tale, the moral being Don't fall, as if they were made of glass. In a sense they were--their fragility was irrefutable, medically proven--and yet Emily detested the inevitable rundown of accidents and tragedies, the more fortunate clucking their tongues and counting their blessings, all the while knowing it was just a matter of time. She didn't need to be reminded that she was a single misstep from disaster, especially here, without Henry, surrounded by the survivors of an earlier life. ↗

— Stewart O'Nan

#aging #vulnerability #age

An accident you're in? It marks you on the outside, maybe. Scars your face or your skin-breaks bones,crushes skulls,leaves the body changed. An accident witnessed? You're different on the inside. Maybe there's no cut someone else can see, bu there're always injuries on the inside. Those take a long time to heal. ↗

— Carol Lynch Williams

#emotional-wounds #healing #injuries #change