snakes

"Adam was simply a human being and that explains everything. He didn't want the apple for the apple's sake. He only wanted it because it was forbidden. The mistake was not to forbid him the snake, because then he would have eaten the snake. (Mark Twain)"

"Anyone with a minimum of familiarity with the goddess of the ancient oriental worlds cannot fail to recognize recurring characters in those various cultures in the Bible, even if more or less transfigured. For example, in the scene of Eve and the tree, nothing indicates that the tempting serpent was itself a deity who had been venerated in the Levant for at least seven thousand years before the composition of the Book of Genesis. (Joseph Campbell)"

"And the serpent that speaks with Eve, what language will we say he used? Of the human one? How then do these things differ from the fantasies of the Greeks? (Flavius ​​Claudius Julianus)"

"The serpent of the third chapter of Genesis is not at all its own creation, exclusive to the biblical story. The concept of the principle of evil and pain, represented in the figure of a monstrous reptile, which lurks against the Divinity and against the well-being of all created works of the visible cosmos, but even more against the human race, is obvious and fundamental in the Babylonian religion. We recall in the aforementioned creation poem the struggle of Marduk against Tiamat and the other powers of darkness, in the form of dragons and similar wriggling monstrous reptiles; to linger in the multiform plastic and literary expressions that the dragon, the monstrous reptile, the principle of evil, in short, assumes in the ideal Babylonian world, seems superfluous to us. (Salvatore Minocchi)"

"The serpent is a symbol of temptation, of human thought that is satisfied with itself and does not recognize any law outside of itself, which in short wants everything that talents. And as the personification of this seductive and rebellious thought he is cursed by God and with perpetual humiliation: "you will walk on your chest, and you will eat dust." (David Castelli)"

"The serpent was then a beast that walked vertically like all the others and it was condemned to crawl on its belly in the dust, to be despised and killed by man. Furthermore, having been an instrument in the hands of Lucifer, it became the symbol of fraud and represents the Devil. (Joseph Franklin Rutherford)"

"In essence, God forbade [...] men to enjoy science, which is something than which nothing can be dearer to them. In fact, even imbeciles understand that distinguishing good from bad is the proper function of science. Therefore the serpent was rather the benefactor, than the enemy of the human race. And God could therefore be called jealous. (Flavius ​​Claudius Julianus)"

"The serpent was the most cunning of all the wild beasts made by the Lord God. He said to the woman: "Is it true that God said: You must not eat from any tree of the garden?". The woman replied to the serpent: "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden: You must not eat it and you must not touch it, otherwise you will die." But the serpent said to the woman: "You will not die at all! In fact, God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will become like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis)"

"Then the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, | cursed are you above all livestock | and above all wild animals; | you will walk on your belly | and you will eat dust | all the days of your life. | I will put enmity between you and the woman, | between your lineage | and her lineage: | this one will crush your head | and you will undermine her heel"."

"Let Dan be a serpent in the road, | a horned viper on the path, | that bites the hocks of the horse | and the knight falls backwards."

"Moses replied: "Behold, they will not believe me, they will not listen to my voice, but they will say: The Lord has not appeared to you!". The Lord said to him: "What do you have in your hand?". He replied: "A staff". He resumed: "Throw him to the ground!". He threw it to the ground and the stick became a serpent, before which Moses began to flee. The Lord said to Moses: "Stretch out your hand and take him by the tail!". He stretched out his hand, took it, and it became a stick in his hand again. "This is so that they may believe that the Lord has appeared to you." (Book of Exodus)"

"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: "When Pharaoh asks you: Perform a miracle to help you! you will say to Aaron: Take Aaron's staff and throw it before Pharaoh and it will become a serpent! ". Moses and Aaron then came to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded them: Aaron threw the staff before Pharaoh and before his servants and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the enchanters, and the magicians of Egypt also did the same thing with their magic. They each threw down his staff and the staffs became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. (Book of Exodus)"

"The people said against God and against Moses: "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert? Because here there is neither bread nor water and we are nauseated by this light food". Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, which bit the people, and a large number of Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to remove these serpents from us." Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses: "Make a serpent and put it on a pole; whoever looks at it after being bitten will remain alive." Moses then made a brazen serpent and put it on the pole; when a snake had bitten someone, if he looked at the copper snake, he remained alive. (Numbers)"

"The wolf and the lamb will feed together, | the lion will eat straw like an ox, | but the serpent will eat dust. (Book of Isaiah)"

"Behold: I send you as sheep among wolves; therefore be prudent as serpents and simple as doves. (Jesus, Gospel according to Matthew)"

"The serpents are these worlds."

"Nature has made snakes deadly and precise predators. Their speed, senses, and killing tools allow them to control the populations of small mammals, lizards, birds, fish and insects."

"Rattlesnakes venom stuns prey immediately and can kill small animals within 20 seconds."

"Black mambas are Africa’s fastest and most feared snake. Their venom causes muscle paralysis which stops a victim’s breathing."

"Snake venom is a toxic saliva. The moment the venom enters the body, it starts to destroy cells and begins to digest the prey before it is even dead."

"Australia’s fierce snake, also called an inland Taipan snake, has the most toxic venom of any snake. Its poison is 50 times stronger than that of an Indian cobra. Despite its name, the fierce snake is usually very calm and shy. No humans have been killed by this venomous, but easy-going reptile."

"A single bite by a fierce snake has enough poison to kill 100 human adults or 25,000 mice."

"Most sea snakes are calm and shy. Few people have ever been envenomated."

"Snakes-low and cunning creatures that hide themselves. Yet, you don’t see them, and when you do they see you too and it is too late. Don’t go near them for your own sake."

"Sometimes they pretend to be harmless, but they are not. That is snake’s nature, believe it or not."

"If you know anyone that acts like a snake, don’t think they wont strike."

"“A snake will always be a snake,” slithering around to find some one to strike, not only on the ground, but anywhere else around."

"Watch out for two-legged snakes."

"The numerous snakes and other animals which inhabit arid mountains, or plains destitute of water, can only quench their thirst with rain or dew. Snakes require but little water as long as they live in the open air. It is an established rule that no water is found in the maw, stomach, or entrails of snakes killed in the open air. Even when destroyed by or in piece of water. Snakes are never seen to go to drink in any part of the world."

"All snakes drink and die when deprived of water."

"Snakes drink by suction, not by lapping."

"...are almost within hearing of a piano, and never show the slightest emotion at the sound"

"And my idea is that it is the jarring or vibration through solids, and not the mere sound that affects the snakes."

"The ‘snake men’ of the East, whose trade is to hunt out snakes by means of sound, effect this by rapping on the wall or ceiling or by making loud clicking noises with their tongues much as by their so-called ‘music."

"Snakes are easily aroused by the sound of footsteps than by the sight of the approaching person."

"A custom is prevalent in Ceylon, we are told, of using a jingling stick in the dark to strike the ground in order to frighten snakes out of the path."

"May we not conclude, then, that the perception of sound to a serpent is through solids, a feeling more than a hearing of noises? The creature always prone to the ground or other solids, and with an internal aural apparatus, must be peculiarly sensitive to vibrations thus conveyed."

"...the waving of hand or knee, or bright colours used by the charmers, to which the movements of the serpents respond."

"The snake remains rigidly still the while, the only moving thing being that investigating tongue."

"Any other ’spell’ or ‘fascination’ or attraction might be attributed to a soporific or paralytic rather than a pleasurable influence; and arising from noxious breath of a venomous serpent or the fixity of its eyes, never blinking."

"It is serpent nature to wait motionless for its prey."

"a scarlet tanagerin Costa Rica had been attracted out of tree down close to a snake by its quivering tongue, the only moving thing about it."

"Indian snakes were more deadly than those in Australia"

"Constantly affirmed by our scientific experimentalistson, snake venom that ‘as yet no antidote to them has been found'. Remedies there are in abundance and it is just as great an error to believe that all snake venom is curable."

"Snake virus is a natural secretion provided for the distinct physiological purpose of enabling the reptile to secure its prey."

"With regard to many drugs used in various countries for the cure of snake bite, it is curious to note that, as a rule, they are procured from the most deadly plants. As ‘like cures like’, so poison cures poison. Most of them are powerful stimulants, in which lies their chief virtue."

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

"King Parikshita, the son of Abimanyu, grandson of Arjuna and father of Janamejaya who succeeded Yudhishthira on the throne of Hastinapura died of the bite of a serpent. And so, Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit is said to have performed a great sacrifice of serpents as revenge....After the intervention of Aastika the ‘sarpa satra’ ended."

"In Hindu India, there is a cult of snakes in which the cobra, role model for the snakes of India, is especially revered."

"There have been snake people (nagas or nags) and their rulers and their rulers, commonly multiheaded cobras, in Hindu mythology since antiquity."