One continent on our planet changes more dramatically than any other: North America. Whole landscapes here can be transformed in a matter of minutes. And all life has to be ready to seize the moment. Getting it wrong can be disastrous. But time it correctly and there can be great rewards. This is a land of opportunity. David Attenborough, Seven Worlds, One Planet VI: North America
The coldest wilderness of all lies in the Arctic north … The Canadian lynx: no other kind of cat anywhere lives further north than this one. ibid.
Over 1,000 tornadoes touch down here every year. ibid.
A relative of the elephant: a manatee … Every autumn they need to find warmer waters. ibid.
Africa: No continent on Earth today has such spectacular wildlife. At its heart lies a vast tropical rainforest. Over a million square miles of wilderness, much of it still unexplored, even now. There are more animals and plants in these jungles than anywhere else on the continent. But even in this land of plenty, wildlife facing major challenges. David Attenborough, Seven Worlds, One Planet VII: Africa
Chimpanzees: The elders in this group know where to find the most nutritious food and how to extract it. But if they are to survive to adulthood the youngsters must learn these skills from their parents. ibid.
These lakes are now one of the richest freshwater habitats to be found anywhere. ibid.
Hyenas from all over the Namib head to where the sand dunes meet the sea: somewhere along this seemingly barren stretch of land there is food in great quantity: Cape fur seals: there are around 10,000 of them here. ibid.
Aardvark: It’s the world’s largest burrowing animal. Its sense of smell is extremely acute. Shovel-like claws and powerful legs enable it to dig down to depths of five or six metres. A full-grown aardvark needs to eat about fifty thousands termites every day. Termites are highly nutritious and full of moisture, and they can be collected here year-round. Aardvark are usually nocturnal … Aardvark here are close to starvation. Changes in the world’s climate are affecting many of Africa’s animals. ibid.
The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those that feel. Horace Walpole, 1776
When will the world know that peace and propagation are the two most delightful things in it? Horace Walpole, 1778
Always present your front to the world. Moliere aka Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, L’Avare, 1669
I fear, I fear, ’twill prove a giddy world. William Shakespeare, Richard III II iii 5, Second to First Citizen
Then look, masters, to see a troublous world. ibid. II iii 9, Third Citizen to Second and First Citizen
For what is this world but grief and woe?
O God! Methinks it were a happy life
To be not better than a homely swain. William Shakespeare, Richard Duke of York II v 20-22, King Henry’s soliloquy
When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun. William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet III ii @21
The world is not thy friend, nor the world’s law. ibid. V ii 72, Romeo to Apothecary
Mad world, mad kings, mad composition! William Shakespeare, King John II ii 562, Bastard
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice I i, Antonio
Why, when the world’s mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open. William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor II ii 2
O, what a world of vile ill-favoured faults
Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year! ibid. III iv 32
Hereafter, in a better world than this,
I shall desire more love and knowledge of you. William Shakespeare, As You Like It I ii 301
O, how full of briers is this working-day world. ibid. I iii 12
O how full of briers is this working-day world! ibid. I iii 11-12, Rosalind to Celia
Duke Senior: Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy.
This wide and universal theatre.
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.
Jaques: All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. ibid. II vii @135
Jaques: Will you sit down with me, and we two will rail against our mistress the world, and all our misery?
Orlando: I will child no breather in the world but myself, against whom I know most faults. ibid. III ii 271-275
’Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. William Shakespeare, Hamlet I ii 135-137, Hamlet
O my good Lord, the world is but a word. William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens II ii 149, Flavius
Timon: What wouldst thou do with the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?
Apemantus: Give it to the beasts, to be rid of the men. ibid. IV iii
I am sick of this false world, and will love naught. ibid. IV iii 278, Timon
O world, thy slippery turns! William Shakespeare, Coriolanus IV iv 12, Coriolanus
How wonder. How many goodly creatures are there here? How beauteous mankind is. Oh brave new world that has such people in ’t! The Tempest 2010 starring Helen Mirren & Felicity Jones & Chris Cooper & Russell Brand & Reeve Carney & Tom Conti & Alan Cumming & Dimon Hounsou & Alfred Molina & Ben Whishaw et al, director Julie Taymor, Miranda
Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it. You have felt it your entire life. That there is something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s like there's a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Do you want to know what it is? The Matrix is everything. All around us ... It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neil. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison you cannot smell or touch. A prison for your mind. The Matrix 1999 starring Keanu Reeves & Laurence Fishburne & Carrie-Anne Moss & Hugo Weaving & Joe Pantoliano & Gloria Foster & Marcus Chong & Julian Arahanga & Matt Doran & Belinda McClory et al, directors Andy & Lana Wachowski
I’m going to be honest with you. I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, or whatever you want to call it. I can’t stand it any longer. It’s the smell. ibid. Man in black to Morpheus
The toilet world we live in. The Sopranos s4e10: The Strong, Silent Type, Tony, HBO 2002
It’s a sick fucking world. The Sopranos s6e15: Remember When Uncle Junior
Twenty times in the course of my late readings, have I been on the point of breaking out, ‘This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it!’ ... This world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company – I mean hell. So far from believing in the total and universal depravity of human nature, I believe there is no individual totally depraved. The most abandoned scoundrel that ever existed never wholly extinguished his conscience, and while conscience remains there is some religion. Popes, Jesuits, Sarbonnists, and Inquisitors have some religion. Fears and terrors appear to have produced a universal credulity – but fears of pain and death here do not seem so unconquerable as fears of what is to come hereafter. John Adams
We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon. Franklin D Roosevelt
The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds. William James
Here’s what we can do to change the world right now to a better ride: take all of that money we spend on weapons and defence each year and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, and not one human being excluded, and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, in peace. I believe that God left certain drugs growing naturally upon our planet to help speed up and facilitate our evolution. Bill Hicks, Revelations, Dominion Theatre, London