Marcus Aurelius Quotes

When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.

From its first faint glimmerings, History shews Man's constant progress as a beast of prey. As such he conquers every land, subdues the fruit-fed races, founds mighty realms by subjugating other subjugators, forms states and sets up civilisations, to enjoy his prey at rest.

Man, biologically considered ... is simply the most formidable of all beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own kind.

You and I probably wouldn't be here if our ancestors hadn't been greedy savages.

The tiger springs in the new year. Us he devours.

I don't think anyone can be more of a predator than a human being.

Man is to man either a god or a wolf.

Without game, men prey on each other.

Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.

God and nature have thrown all human fortunes into the midst of mankind; and they are thus attainable rather by rapine than by industry, by wicked actions rather than by good. Hence it is that men feed upon each other, and those who cannot defend themselves must be worried.

I have seen Tasmanian devils battle over a carcass. I have seen lionesses crowding a kill, dingoes on the trail of a feral piglet, and adult croc thrashing its prey to pieces. But never, in all the animal world, have I witnessed anything to match the casual cruelty of the human being.

I don't like the human race in general. We are the only species who hunt for sport, who kill due to emotional need.

Man is too near all kinds of beasts,--a fawning dog, a roaring lion, a thieving fox, a robbing wolf, a dissembling crocodile, a treacherous decoy, and a rapacious vulture.

At the bottom of all these noble races the beast of prey, the splendid blond beast, prowling about avidly in search of spoil and victory.

Humanity always becomes a conqueror.

The best way to spell victory? K-I-L-L.

Until you stalk and overrun, you cannot devour anyone. -Hobbes

A man's greatest work is to break his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all the things that have been theirs, to hear the weeping of those who cherished them, to take their horses between his knees and to press in his arms the most desirable of their women.

The duck swallows the worm, the fox kills the duck, the men shoot the fox, and the devil hunts the men.

Shane: "Score," he said, and raised the crowbar in triumph. "Who's your daddy?" - Black Dawn

What is the Law of the Jungle? Strike first and then give tongue.

People are more afraid to love than they are to kill.

So many things tear us apart from each other. That's the hardest thing, to fit with all the hatred and pain we're embroiled in. I mean, we're a very violent species, physically and emotionally.

Soft flesh is eaten by hard teeth.