Recently I found myself at a Hindu temple in Darjeeling (India), surrounded by monkeys who displayed behavior not unlike that of members of my own race. The strong bullied the weak, the old were teased by the young. And mothers cared for and protected their children.
Life is thus. So it always has been. So it will probably always be. When it comes down to it, we are but a strange tribe of monkeys fighting over bananas.
-Richard Hughes, Buying at the Source: Being an Essay on the Virtues of Dick’s Law and Other Sundry Maxims of the East
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ahem.
While I recognize the significance, and perhaps, validity, of the quote… quite frankly, I resent the comparison to humans.
Couldn’t you have found a nice quote that involves the social practices of stoats?