Vojtech Novotny > Quotes

“Any society is controlled by a web of feedback control mechanisms, from the private, then public opinion of colleagues to police rapid-response teams, all of which limits and guides the actions of the society's members. A few years of exotic living spent free of such controls are usually sufficient for personal character quirks and obsessions, of whatever kind, to develop to levels that would be deemed pathological on one's home ground.”
― Vojtech Novotny, Notebooks from New Guinea: Field Notes of a Tropical Biologist

“Many biologists are like migratory birds---they nest and reproduce in the temperate zone, but regularly migrate to warmer climes in search of spiritual fodder.”
― Vojtech Novotny, Notebooks from New Guinea: Field Notes of a Tropical Biologist

“In the past, a lady of fashion would seductively smoke a long cigarette in an ivory holder; the modern idol of the betel age will probably be the same lady, but this time elegantly spitting out three table-spoons of blood-red betel-spit into an artistically crafted spittoon through teeth blackened by decades of chewing. When such a body offers you a little ground limestone, be aware that this is a gesture of the most genuine friendship.”
― Vojtěch Novotný, Notebooks from New Guinea: Field Notes of a Tropical Biologist