--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I was 18 I worked with the Ringling…" description: "\"When I was 18 I worked with the Ringling Brothers circus, taking care of menagerie animals. I used to rather deliberately risk my life with the big cat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/edward-hoagland-14156_animals_when-i-was-18-i-worked-with-the-ringling_32297.jpg" --- # When I was 18 I worked with the Ringling Brothers circus… ![“When I was 18 I worked with the Ringling Brothers circus, taking care of menagerie animals. I used to rather deliberately risk my life with the big cats.” quote by Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/edward-hoagland-14156_animals_when-i-was-18-i-worked-with-the-ringling_32297.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/edward-hoagland-14156_animals_when-i-was-18-i-worked-with-the-ringling_32297.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/edward-hoagland-14156_animals_when-i-was-18-i-worked-with-the-ringling_32297.jpg) > “When I was 18 I worked with the Ringling Brothers circus, taking care of menagerie animals. I used to rather deliberately risk my life with the big cats.” [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A youthful embrace of danger, confronting wild animals to test personal limits and confront mortality. **In simple terms:** Risk and self-discovery through confronting danger. Key Takeaway Courage is forged in the face of peril. Themes risk adventure self-discovery mortality courage Mood thrilling reflective intense Type personal anecdote adventure narrative When to use this quote - young adult seeking purpose - career in performance arts - extreme hobbyist Key Concepts wildlife handling personal limits fear management Practical Applications - motivational storytelling - risk assessment training Questions to Reflect On - What does confronting danger reveal about oneself? - How does youthful daring shape later values? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Brothers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brothers/) [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Cats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cats/) [Circus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/circus/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Risk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/risk/) ## Related quotes > [Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/animals-used-to-provide-a-lowlife-way-to-kill-and-get-away-with-it-as/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [“Mr. Galliano wore his big top-hat very much on one side of his head, so much so that Jimmy really wondered why it didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enid-blyton/mr-galliano-wore-his-big-top-hat-very-much-on-one-side-of-his-head-so/) [Enid Blyton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enid-blyton/) > [“Two of them drifted over to intercept me with the easy calm of big cats that have been fed recently.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-k-morgan/two-of-them-drifted-over-to-intercept-me-with-the-easy-calm-of-big/) [Richard K. 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You think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-gibbons/with-the-watchmen-comic-we-attempted-to-tell-it-in-an-accessible-way/) [Dave Gibbons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-gibbons/) > [Whether Earth was deliberately terraformed, in other words, or whether it was seeded with the spores of life from crashed comets or whether, indeed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-hancock/whether-earth-was-deliberately-terraformed-in-other-words-or-whether/) [Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-hancock/) ## More by Edward Hoagland > [Henry David Thoreau, who never earned much of a living or sustained a relationship with any woman that wasn't brotherly -- who lived mostly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/henry-david-thoreau-who-never-earned-much-of-a-living-or-sustained-a/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [There is a time of life somewhere between the sullen fugues of adolescence and the retrenchments of middle age when human nature becomes so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/there-is-a-time-of-life-somewhere-between-the-sullen-fugues-of/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [The zest for life of those unusual men and women who make a great zealous success of living is due more often in good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/the-zest-for-life-of-those-unusual-men-and-women-who-make-a-great/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [Sophistication" is another word for that inventive mix of tolerance, resilience, and resourcefulness city people develop.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/sophistication-is-another-word-for-that-inventive-mix-of-tolerance/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [The novelist screws up his courage in order to invest another two or three years in another attempt to float a boat of original…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/the-novelist-screws-up-his-courage-in-order-to-invest-another-two-or/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [Once I climbed into a mountain lion's cage and she bounded at me and put her paw on my face, but she kept her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/once-i-climbed-into-a-mountain-lion-s-cage-and-she-bounded-at-me-and/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [Poetry is engendered in solitude, so what better meter for it than the clip of a buckskin horse?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/poetry-is-engendered-in-solitude-so-what-better-meter-for-it-than-the/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [There often seems to be a playfulness to wise people, as if either their equanimity has as its source this playfulness or the playfulness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/there-often-seems-to-be-a-playfulness-to-wise-people-as-if-either/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [The question of whether it's God's green earth is not at center stage, except in the sense that if so, one is reminded with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/the-question-of-whether-it-s-god-s-green-earth-is-not-at-center-stage/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [Many people have believed that they were Chosen, but none more baldly than the Texans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/many-people-have-believed-that-they-were-chosen-but-none-more-baldly/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/animals-used-to-provide-a-lowlife-way-to-kill-and-get-away-with-it-as/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [Silence is exhilarating at first - 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to this day it is a vivid memory. 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