Jungle (original) (raw)

The jungle wasn't evil. It was indifferent. So, too, was the world. ~ Karl Marlantes

Jungle (from Sanskrit: जंगल jangala, meaning uncultivated land) is land covered with dense tangled vegetation, especially in the tropics. The word was long used as a synonym for tropical rainforest, although these usually do not have dense vegetation at ground level, save at openings, such as at riverbanks. Metaphorically, the word often refers to situations which are perceived as unruly, lawless, or where mere "survival of the fittest" or "laws of the jungle" prevail.

Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. ~ Rudyard Kipling

The jungle is large and the Cub he is small. Let him think and be still. ~ Rudyard Kipling

• Man is lost and is wandering in a jungle where real values have no meaning. Real values can have meaning to man only when he steps on to the spiritual path, a path where negative emotions have no use.
  • Sathya Sai Baba in: Stop Worrying, Start Living: A Guide for the Spiritual Worrier/Warrior, BalboaPress, 27 November 2012, p. 404.
• Stay in touch with my insanity
  Really is the only way
  It's a jungle out there kiddies
  Have a very fruitful day.
  • Jimmy Buffettin: Jimmy Buffett Lyrics, AZLyrics.com
• Tarzan of the Apes, young and savage beast of the jungle, wondered at the cruel brutality of his own kind.
  Sheeta, the leopard, alone of all the jungle folk, tortured his prey. The ethics of all the others meted a quick and merciful death to their victims.
  Tarzan had learned from his books but scattered fragments of the ways of human beings.
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs, in Tarzan of the Apes (1912), Ch. 11 : "King of the Apes"
• I am Tarzan, King of the Apes, mighty hunter, mighty fighter. In all the jungle there is none so great.
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs, in Tarzan of the Apes (1912), Ch. 12 : Man's Reason
• Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.
  • Albert Camus in: Deborah A. Robertson Cultural Programming for Libraries: Linking Libraries, Communities, and Culture, American Library Association, 2005, p. 54.
• A man perfects himself by working. Foul jungles are cleared away, fair seed-fields rise instead, and stately cities; and with the man himself first ceases to be a jungle, and foul unwholesome desert thereby. The man is now a man.
  • Thomas Carlyle in: Past and Present: Thomas Carlyle, 1843, A Web of English History, History Home
• The ability to manage well doesn't make much difference if you're not even in the right jungle.
  • Stephen R. Covey in: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, Simon and Schuster, 19 November 2013, p. 156.
• Man is head, chest and stomach. Each of these animals operates, more often than not, individually. I eat, I feel, I even, although rarely, think. This jungle crawls and teems, is hungry, roars, gets angry, devours itself, and its cacophonic concert does not even stop when you are asleep.
  • Rene Daumal in: Memorable Quotations: French Writers of the Past, iUniverse, 2000, p. 61
• Basically, I believe the world is a jungle, and if it's not a bit of a jungle in the home, a child cannot possibly be fit to enter the outside world.
  • Bette Davis in: Kate Kelly et al., The Added Dimension: Celebrating the Opportunities, Rewards, and Challenges of the Add Experience, Simon and Schuster, 23-Jul-1998, p. 128.
• Roaming through the jungle of "oohs" and "ahs," searching for a more agreeable noise, I live a life of primitivity with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats.
  • Duke Ellington in: Gene Brown Duke Ellington: Jazz Master, Blackbirch Press, 2001, p. 87.
• Nature here is violent, base. I wouldn't see anything erotical here. I would see fornication and asphyxiation and choking and fighting for survival and growing and just rotting away. Of course there's a lot of misery, but it's the same misery that is all around us. The trees here are in misery and the birds are in misery. I don't think they sing. They just screech in pain.
  • Werner Herzog, Burden of Dreams (1982)
• When she walked...she stretched out long and thin like a little tiger, and held her head high to look over the w:Grass:grass as if she were treading the jungle.
  • Sarah Orne Jewet in: Jasmine Kinnear How to Hide Your Cat from the Landlord: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Living in Harmony with a Compatible Feline in Smaller Spaces, CCB Publishing, 6 April 2006, p. 87
• ‘There is none like to me !' says the Cub in the pride of his earliest kill;
  But the jungle is large and the Cub he is small. Let him think and be still.
  • Rudyard Kipling, in The Jungle Book (1894), "Kaa's hunting"
• Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky;
  And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
  As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the Law runneth forward and back;
  For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
  • Rudyard Kipling, in The Second Jungle Book (1895), "The Law of the Jungle", Stanzas 1 and 2.
• Now these are the Laws of the jungle, and many and mighty are they;
  But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is — Obey!
  • Rudyard Kipling, in The Second Jungle Book (1895), in "The Law of the Jungle", Stanza 19
• A brave heart and a courteous tongue. They shall carry thee far through the jungle, manling.
  • Rudyard Kipling in: The Jungle Book, Century Company, 1920, p. 84.

When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle, And neither will go from the trail, Lie down till the leaders have spoken, It may be fair words shall prevail. - Rudyard Kipling.

• When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle, And neither will go from the trail, Lie down till the leaders have spoken, It may be fair words shall prevail.
  • Rudyard Kipling in: The Jungle Book, "Издательство ""Проспект""", 28 June 2013, p. 172.

After several thousand years, we have advanced to the point where we bolt our doors and windows and turn on our burglar alarms - while the jungle natives sleep in open-door huts.

• After several thousand years, we have advanced to the point where we bolt our doors and windows and turn on our burglar alarms - while the jungle natives sleep in open-door huts.
  • Morris Mandel in: Volunteer Administration, Volumes 11-13, 1978, p. 1
• He thought of the jungle, already regrowing around him to cover the scars they had created. He thought of the tiger, killing to eat. Was that evil? And ants? They killed. No, the jungle wasn't evil. It was indifferent. So, too, was the world.
  • Karl Marlantes, in Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War, Ch. 19 (2010)
• Of all the peoples whom I have studied, from city dwellers to cliff dwellers, I always find that at least 50 percent would prefer to have at least one jungle between themselves and their mothers-in-law.
  • Margaret Mead in: The Quotable A**hole: More than 1,200 Bitter Barbs, Cutting Comments, and Caustic Comebacks for Aspiring and Armchair A**holes Alike, Adams Media, 15 September 2011, p. 13
• Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way.
  • Arthur Miller in: Perspectives on Arthur Miller, Abhinav Publications, 1 January 1988, p. 64
• And remember, when we talk of the fittest, it is all about the context. Sure, the lion is king of the jungle but airdrop him into Antarctica, & he's just a penguin's bitch.
  • Dennis Mille in:I Rant, Therefore I Am, Crown Publishing Group, 17 July 2001, p. 72.
• I was never a great reader, but there were two stories I loved best: Kipling's 'The Elephant's Child' and 'The Jungle Book.' Deep down, I've always wanted to write a book about a wild child and an elephant.
  • Michael Morpurgo in: Michael Morpurgo and the importance of telling a good story, 3 September 2009
• Welcome to the jungle.
  It gets worse here everyday.
  Ya learn ta live like an animal
  In the jungle where we play.
  If you got a hunger for what you see
  You'll take it eventually
  You can have anything you want
  But you better not take it from me.
  • Guns N' Roses, song Welcome to the Jungle (1987), written by Axl Rose and Slash

In front of me, I see the jungle burning; behind me, I see green plants sprouting. We shall merge into the One from whom we came.

• In front of me, I see the jungle burning; behind me, I see green plants sprouting. We shall merge into the One from whom we came.
  • Sri Guru Granth Sahib in: Marilynn Hughes The Voice of the Prophets: Wisdom of the Ages, Volume 2 of 12, Lulu.com, 1 November 2005
• It may be that to eat and be eaten are the same thing in the end. My wisdom tells me that this is probably so. We are all made of the same stuff, remember, we of the Jungle, you of the City. The same substance composes us — the tree overhead, the stone beneath us, the bird, the beast, the star — we are all one, all moving to the same end. Remember that when you no longer remember me, my child.
  • P. L. Travers, in Mary Poppins (1934), Hamadryad, the King Cobra, in Ch. 10 "Full-Moon"
• Life is a zoo in a jungle.
  • Peter De Vries in: Executive Career Advancement: How to Understand the Politics of Promotion the X Factor, AuthorHouse, 23 November 2009, p. 106.
• Leadership has to do with direction. Management has to do with the speed, coordination and logistics in going in that direction. The Workers are chopping their way through the jungle. The Managers are coordinating, making sure the tools are sharp, etc. The Leaders climb a tree and shout Wrong jungle!! The Managers shout back Be quiet! We're making progress!
  • Anonymous in: Quotes about Leaders and Leadership, Quotations Book, p. 32

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