Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Lives lived in consistent danger. Adam Nicholson, The Century that Wrote Itself II: The Rewritten Universe, BBC 2013
The genetic modification of food is intrinsically dangerous. It involves making irreversible changes in a random manner to a complex level of life about which little is known. It is inevitable that this hit-and-miss approach will lead to disasters. It must disrupt the natural intelligence of the plant or animal to which it is applied, and lead to health-damaging side-effects. Dr Geoffrey Clements, leader Natural Law Party UK, re: Tryptophan toxicity incident – $2 billion in claims for deaths and disease
Over the last fifteen years, I and other scientists have put the FDA on notice about the potential dangers of genetically engineered foods. Instead of responsible regulation we have seen bureaucratic bungling and obfuscation that have left public health and the environment at risk. Professor Philip Regal, 1998
Your life flashed before my eyes. Almost worth dying for. Vanilla Sky 2001 starring Tom Cruise & Penelope Cruz & Cameron Diz & Kurt Russell & Jason Lee & Noah Taylor & Timothy Spall & Tilda Swinton & Michael Shannon & Ken Leung & Shalom Harlow & Oona Hart & Ivana Milicevic, mate to Cruise in jam-jar
I feel like anybody could conceivably die on any given day. Solo makes it feel far more immediate and much more present. Free Solo, Alex Honnold, 2018
Free soloing is so dangerous that less than 1% of people who climb attempt it. ibid. CBS 60 Minutes documentary
I will always choose climbing over a lady. At least so far. ibid. Alex
El Capitan [Yosemite]: the centre of the rock-climbing universe. ibid. climber
On June 3 2017 Alex Honnold became the first person to free solo El Capitan. It took him three hours and fifty-six minutes. ibid. caption
I am not in danger, I am the danger. Breaking Bad s4e6: Cornered, AMC 2011
In May 1939 the crew of the submarine USS Squalus were struck by disaster deep below the surface of the Atlantic ocean. They were trapped on the ocean floor with the air running out and no means of escape. The latest victims of what the US Navy dubbed the Coffin Service. Their fate rested on one man: Naval inventor Charles ‘Swede’ Momsen. Voyages of Discovery s1e5: USS Squalus, BBC 2006
In the previous 20 years worldwide 22 subs had been lost along with the lives of over 1,000 men. They didn’t call it the Coffin Service for nothing … No crew had ever been saved from the ocean depths. ibid.
Water from flooding from the rear to the front of the sub. ibid.
A poisonous chlorine gas was beginning to spread. But there was no way out. ibid.
The Squalus had been equipped with Momsen lungs … This is a submarine rescue bell based on Momsen’s design … It was Momsen’s big moment … The unbelievable had happened: a rescue mission had reached the submarine. ibid.
You’ll find that drivers are a very happy lot of people because they appreciate life far more than the average man does. A driver usually gets killed on a Sunday. Ferrari: Race to Immortality, opening comments, Sky Documentaries 2020
Enzo Ferrari once said [to drivers], ‘Win or die, you’ll be immortal.’ ibid. driver
When catastrophe would happen, we would just kind of carry on. ibid. wife of driver
Enzo Ferrari was a great talent scout … He’d spotted there were a bunch of English drivers who had started to do very well indeed. ibid. observer
Mike Hawthorn: A lot of fun. I think he used racing as a stepping stone to enjoyment of life, whereas to me, it was life. ibid. Stirling Moss
Wherever you get this danger, you get this thrill. ibid. girlfriend of Hawthorn
We need winners. We don’t need those who finish second or third. ibid. Enzo Ferrari
Lap after lap, Hawthorn and Fangio, no more than yards apart, kept the crowd enthralled with an exhibition of driving skill no adequate words can describe. ibid. race commentary
It [front end of Mercedes] went through the crowd like a torpedo. And it killed over 80 of them and killed over a hundred more. There were even children in the front row. They were in the firing line. ibid. Doug Nye, historian
I have in fact no interest in life outside of racing cars. ibid. Enzo Ferrari
Fangio to me is the best driver in world bar none. ibid. Stirling Moss
So Peter Collins wins his first Grand Prix for Ferrari. ibid. race commentator
A star can be someone with a special style or perhaps a man who is extremely bold. ibid. Enzo Ferrari
I think he [Enzo Ferrari] loved the cars more than the drivers. ibid. Bill Nye
There is no loyalty to a factory. ibid. driver
Fangio left Ferrari … to go to the rival Maserati team … Mike Hawthorn rejoined the Ferrari team at the start of 1957; they had Collins, Musso, the Spanish Fon [Alfonso Cebeza de Vaca y Leighton] 11th Marquess de Portago, and they had Castellotti. It was an incredibly strong team. ibid. Bill Nye
Portago’s crash: Nine spectators were killed, five of them children. It was not uncommon in the 1950s for spectators to be killed. ibid.
Bad luck is the consequence of what we haven’t been able to do or foresee. ibid. Enzo Ferrari
Silverstone: Peter Collins wins after a magnificent drive. And Mike Hawthorne is second. ibid. race commentary
A man has no need of entertainment. Entertainment only distracts from his duty. ibid. Enzo Ferrari
From the disasters you might face once in a lifetime to those we face every day – you may think something like this won’t happen to you. But thinking that the unthinkable won’t happen won’t help you if it does. Because surviving a disaster is not only a question of luck. Horizon: How to Survive a Disaster, BBC 2009
In many of the cases Ed [Professor Galea, Greenwich University] studied one obstacle to our survival appears time and time again – the failure to react even when the threat is staring you in the face. Nowhere is this more apparent than with fire. ibid.
Ten people died in the store [Woolworth’s]. Nine of them in the cafeteria. While others were fleeing for their lives, Ed believes these people fatally underestimated the danger. ibid.
In the moments after the crash Judie experienced another perceptual change reported by other survivors: time distortion. ibid.
The sinking of the Estonia is notorious for accounts of behavioural inaction. Although the alarm was sounded almost thirty minutes before the ferry sank some passengers did nothing to save their own lives. ibid.
There are still things we can all do in our everyday lives to prepare for the unthinkable. ibid.
People who had purchased and paid for their meal, their fish and chips for example, even though they could see the smoke, even though they could smell the smoke, hear the alarms going off, they felt they had sufficient time to complete their meals before evacuating. Professor Ed Galea
The general public tends to underestimate the severity of fires and how dangerous fires can be. This is primarily because people no longer live with fire. Professor Ed Galea
Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions. Primo Levi, cited Storyville: Final Account, Primo Levi, Auschwitz survivor, BBC 2022
Nowhere in the world has been transformed because of it [railways] quite so much as Mumbai … one of the busiest commuter train systems in the world … The most severe overcrowding of any rail system in the world … One of the most dangerous in the world. Ian Hislop’s Trains that Changed the World II, Channel 5 2021