Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Richard Mabey

Quote by Richard Mabey

“In 1546 a band of weevils were tried for damaging church vineyards in St Julien. Such trials were rife in the sixteenth century, and the distinguished French lawyer Bartholomew Chassenée rose to fame as an advocate for animals. His work is commemorated in Julian Barnes's mischievous short story 'The Wars of Religion', in which excommunication is sought for a colony of woodworm which had gnawed away the supporting legs of the Bishop of Besançon's throne, causing him to be 'hurled against his will into a state of imbecility'.”

Quote by Richard Mabey

Book:Weeds: How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilisation and Changed the Way We Think About Nature
Create image

Work

Weeds: How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilisation and Changed the Way We Think About Nature

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Richard Mabey
Richard Mabey

Richard Mabey is a British writer renowned for his profound insights into nature and ecology. His works span multiple fields including natural literature, ecology, and history, and are highly appreciated by readers. more

You May Also Like

“I have since thought a great deal about how people are able to maintain two attitudes in their minds at once. Take the colonel: He had come fresh from a world of machetes, road gangs, and random death and yet was able to have a civilized conversation with a hotel manager over a glass of beer and let himself be talked out of committing another murder. He had a soft side and a hard side and neither was in absolute control of his actions. It would have been dangerous to assume that he was this way or that way at any given point in the day. It was like those Nazi concentration camp guards who could come home from a day manning the gas chambers and be able to play games with their children, put a Bach record on the turntable, and make love to their wives before getting up to kill to more innocents. And this was not the exception—this was the rule. The cousin of brutality is a terrifying normalcy. So I tried never to see these men in terms of black or white. I saw them instead in degrees of soft and hard. It was the soft that I was trying to locate inside them; once I could get my fingers into it, the advantage was mine. If sitting down with abhorrent people and treating them as friends is what it took to get through to that soft place, then I was more than happy to pour the Scotch.”

CompromiseMoral Complexity
Book:An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography
Create image

“'Go back up.' The angel chuckled. 'Well, that would be easy enough if I wanted to go up, but I assure you that I've had quite enough of up to last forever.' The angel shook with mirth again. 'Or until tomorrow. Or whenever I'm overcome with the lust for it once more. It's quite delightful, except that it's terrifying. Which is, of course, how so many of the best things are.'”

LifeWonderfulTerrifyingLeta BlakeKeira Andrews
Book:Earthly Desires
Create image

“Matty non conosceva mezze misure. Era ambizioso, motivato e, secondo Rob, irrimediabilmente destinato a carriere che gli avrebbero spezzato il cuore… Questo sforzo nel conseguire i suoi egoistici obiettivi era adorabile, di grande ispirazione e persino sexy, ma il pattinaggio artistico era, e sarebbe sempre stato, il punto d’origine del suo peggior trauma, e allenare gli altri non si era dimostrato molto diverso fino a quel momento.”

Triskell EdizioniLeta BlakeTraining SeasonTraining Complex
Book:Training Complex
Create image

“«Ma tu reggi una cosa simile? Riesci a dargliela ogni tanto?» «Certo. Alcune volte l’anno. Ma quando non lo facciamo per il suo piacere o per il mio, ma è solo una questione di giochi mentali, controllo e dolore… allora non so. Così fa male a me quasi quanto a lui. Potrei starci persino peggio io, perché non sono un masochista del cazzo. Non sono neanche il miglior sadico del mondo.»”

Triskell EdizioniLeta BlakeTraining SeasonTraingin Complex
Book:Training Complex
Create image