153 Quotes About Rats

হ্যামিলনের বাঁশিওয়ালা শহরটাকে ইঁদুরমুক্ত করেছে ঠিকই, কিন্তু ইঁদুরগুলোকে নদীতে ফেলে মারাত্মক পানি দূষণ ঘটিয়েছে কারণ সেগুলো পানিতে মরে, পচে একাকার হয়ে গিয়েছে!

Indeed, the pied piper of Hamelin has freed the city from the rats, but he has caused serious water pollution by leaving the rats into the river where they have died, rotten and mixed up with the water!

একটি সমস্যার সমাধান যদি আরেকটি সমস্যার সৃষ্টি করে, তখন তাকে ‘ঘূর্ণায়মান সমস্যা’ বলে ডাকাই শ্রেয়! যেমন, হ্যামেলিনের বাঁশিওয়ালা শহরটাকে ইঁদুরমুক্ত করেছে ঠিকই, কিন্তু ইঁদুরগুলোকে নদীতে ফেলে মারাত্মক পানি দূষণ ঘটিয়েছে কারণ সেগুলো পানিতে মরে, পচে একাকার হয়ে গিয়েছে! দৃশ্যত শহরের সমস্যা মিটেছে কিন্তু পানি দূষিত হয়ে আরেকটি সমস্যার সৃষ্টি হয়েছে। তাই এটি একটি ‘ঘূর্ণায়মান সমস্যা’!

The stool pigeon is the coming race.

Amidst the vast variety of creatures which exist, it may be difficult to decide upon the particular purpose for which many have been brought into being, the utility of their existence being so questionable. Should we come to the conclusion that rats among quadrupeds are useless in creation, we might next feel disposed to doubt whether many bipeds should not be placed in the same category.

The second rat, of course, may have been the first rat farther uptown, in which case I am either being followed or the rat keeps the same rounds and hours I do. I think sanity, however, is the most profound moral option of our time. Two rats, then.

I know more about Emily Bronte than anyone I know. I know enough about her family to have been a part. I’ve walked with her on her damp luscious lonely moors, watched her strain to write on miniscule scraps of paper, seen her hide her works from prying eyes. I’ve brooded alongside her and participated in her taciturnity. Before her death at the ripe old age of 30, I nursed her from the things that ultimately killed her: tuberculosis with a side order of Victorian thinking.

A nonhuman animal had better have a good lawyer. In 1508, Bartholomé Chassenée earned fame and fortune for his eloquent representation of the rats of his French province. These rats had been charged with destroying the barley crop and also with ignoring the court order to appear and defend themselves. Bartholomé Chassenée argued successfully that the rats hadn't come because the court had failed to provide reasonable protection from the village cats along the route.

I don’t know what it’s like to be a friend any more than you do. I think “hard” when it should be “soft,” or “gentle” when “forceful” is the key. Often it’s giving every last drop of blood, then skinning myself and giving the skin too, when all you really want is my skeleton, wagging a bony finger, signing how much I love you. I’ve drained and skinned and boned. I’ve signed back obscenities and watched your bone dust drift away. No, I don’t know the meaning of “friend.” Teach me?