Top 9 Quotes by John Vaillant

A human being is a very social creature, and ninety percent of what he does is done only because other people are watching. Alone, with no witnesses, he starts to learn about himself—who is he really?

A human being is a very social creature, and ninety percent of what he does is done only because other people are watching. Alone, with no witnesses, he starts to learn about himself—who is he really?

John Vaillant

People, Doe, Done

John Vaillant (2010). “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival”, p.82, Vintage

The tiger will see you a hundred times before you see him once.

John Vaillant

Hundred, Tigers

John Vaillant (2010). “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival”, p.51, Vintage

The impact of an attacking tiger can be compared to that of a piano falling on you from a second story window. But unlike the piano, the tiger is designed to do this, and the impact is only the beginning.

John Vaillant

Fall, Impact, Piano

The one certainty in tiger tracks is: follow them long enough and you will eventually arrive at a tiger, unless the tiger arrives at you first.

John Vaillant

Long, Track, Firsts

Fancy cutting down all those beautiful trees...to make pulp for those bloody newspapers, and calling it civilisation. - Winston Churchill, remarking to his son during a visit to Canada in 1929

John Vaillant

Beautiful, Son, Cutting

John Vaillant (2015). “The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed”, p.25, Random House

Successful hunting, it could be said, is an act of terminal empathy: the kill depends on how successfully a hunter inserts himself into the umwelt of his prey--even to the point of disguising himself as that animal and mimicking its behavior.

John Vaillant

Successful, Animal, Hunting

John Vaillant (2010). “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival”, p.164, Vintage