The Most Dangerous Game

by Richard Connell

I rather think they understand one thing—fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death.”

The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters.

“One superstitious sailor can taint the whole ship’s company with his fear.”

Sometimes I think evil is a tangible thing—with wave lengths, just as sound and light have. An evil place can, so to speak, broadcast vibrations of evil.

“It’s so dark,” he thought, “that I could sleep without closing my eyes; the night would be my eyelids—

I have but one passion in my life, Mr. Rainsford, and it is the hunt.”

“Here in my preserve on this island,” he said, in the same slow tone, “I hunt more dangerous game.”

“God makes some men poets. Some He makes kings, some beggars. Me He made a hunter.

“Simply this: hunting had ceased to be what you call ‘a sporting proposition.’ It had become too easy. I always got my quarry. Always. There is no greater bore than perfection.”

“Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure.