--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Riding out with the Old Surrey and…" description: "\"“Riding out with the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, White recorded the first time he saw a kill with distanced fascination. The fox was dug out of a drai..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/helen-macdonald-24364_animals_riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burst_849483.jpg" --- # Riding out with the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, White… ![“Riding out with the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, White recorded the first time he saw a kill with distanced fascination. The fox was dug out of a drain where it had taken refuge and thrown to the hounds. They tore it to pieces while a circle of human onlookers 'screeched them on'. The humans…” quote by Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/helen-macdonald-24364_animals_riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burst_849483.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/helen-macdonald-24364_animals_riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burst_849483.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/helen-macdonald-24364_animals_riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burst_849483.jpg) > ““Riding out with the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, White recorded the first time he saw a kill with distanced fascination. The fox was dug out of a drain where it had taken refuge and thrown to the hounds. They tore it to pieces while a circle of human onlookers 'screeched them on'. The humans, White thought, were disgusting, their cries 'tense, self-conscious, and histerically animal'. But the hounds were not. 'The savagery of the hounds', he wrote, 'was deep-rooted and terrible, but rang true, so that it was not horrible like that of the human.”” [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human cruelty can be more unsettling than animal savagery, revealing deep moral contradictions. **In simple terms:** Human cruelty can be more animal. Key Takeaway Reflect on moral complexity of actions. Themes ethics human nature violence Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - wildlife observation - ethical debates - literary analysis - personal reflection Key Concepts moral relativism empathy primal instincts Questions to Reflect On - What does this say about our perception of cruelty? - How do we reconcile admiration for natural behavior with moral judgment? A Different Perspective The perspective may romanticize violence, overlooking broader suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Cruelty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cruelty/) [Human cruelty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-cruelty/) [Hunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hunting/) [Natural order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-order/) ## Related quotes > [Nature is pitiless; she never withdraws her flowers, her music, her fragrance, and her sunlight from before human cruelty or suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/nature-is-pitiless-she-never-withdraws-her-flowers-her-music-her/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“There is a certain beauty in our intrinsic human cruelty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/youssef/there-is-a-certain-beauty-in-our-intrinsic-human-cruelty/) youssef > [Sadistic literature is not only inhumane. It is anti-human.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/storm-jameson/sadistic-literature-is-not-only-inhumane-it-is-anti-human/) [Storm Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/storm-jameson/) > [never forget this moment, the hum of the bee, the saffron threads of the flower, the drawn blinds, nature's assiduousness and human cruelty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-o-brien/never-forget-this-moment-the-hum-of-the-bee-the-saffron-threads-of/) [Edna O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-o-brien/) > [Unless we have courage to recognize cruelty for what it is-whether its victim is human or animal-we cannot expect things to be much better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/unless-we-have-courage-to-recognize-cruelty-for-what-it-is-whether/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [To exult over the miseries of an unhappy creature is inhuman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-blair/to-exult-over-the-miseries-of-an-unhappy-creature-is-inhuman/) [Hugh Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-blair/) > [Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/very-little-of-the-great-cruelty-shown-by-men-can-really-be/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [If the history of the western moral imagination is the story of an enduring and unending revolt against human cruelty, there are few more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/if-the-history-of-the-western-moral-imagination-is-the-story-of-an/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [There's a lot of cruelty going on all the time, and I'm not just talking about inter-human cruelty. I'm talking about whole species becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-ehrenreich/there-s-a-lot-of-cruelty-going-on-all-the-time-and-i-m-not-just/) [Barbara Ehrenreich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-ehrenreich/) > [Human compassion is equal to human cruelty, and it is up to each of us to tip the balance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-walker/human-compassion-is-equal-to-human-cruelty-and-it-is-up-to-each-of-us/) [Alice Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-walker/) > [Probably human cruelty is fixed and eternal. Only styles change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/probably-human-cruelty-is-fixed-and-eternal-only-styles-change/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [Animal cruelty is like human cruelty. There is very little being done to prevent it, and only after it happens does anyone want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/animal-cruelty-is-like-human-cruelty-there-is-very-little-being-done/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is cruelty to be humane to rebels, and humanity is cruelty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-burns/it-is-cruelty-to-be-humane-to-rebels-and-humanity-is-cruelty/) [Robert Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-burns/) > [The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-john-paul-ii/the-cemetery-of-the-victims-of-human-cruelty-in-our-century-is/) [Pope John Paul II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-john-paul-ii/) > [Jehovah, Allah, the Trinity, Jesus, Buddha, are names for a great variety of human virtues, human mystical experiences, human remorses, human compensatory fantasies, human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/jehovah-allah-the-trinity-jesus-buddha-are-names-for-a-great-variety/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) ## More by Helen Macdonald > [“And I was sure it was the drink that irrigated White’s self-sabotage, for it is the common trait of alcoholics to make plans and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/and-i-was-sure-it-was-the-drink-that-irrigated-white-s-self-sabotage/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“Wild things are made from human histories.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/wild-things-are-made-from-human-histories/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“White called Prisonface to life in order that he should suffer, be punished, mocked, reduced to rags and die.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/white-called-prisonface-to-life-in-order-that-he-should-suffer-be/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“No war can ever be just air.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/no-war-can-ever-be-just-air/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“You see that life will become a thing made of holes. Absences. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realise,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/you-see-that-life-will-become-a-thing-made-of-holes-absences-losses/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“And when I look again she seems neither bird nor reptile, but a creature shaped by a million years of evolution for a life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/and-when-i-look-again-she-seems-neither-bird-nor-reptile-but-a/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“He did all the right things: flew aeroplanes, shot, fished for salmon, hunted; and even better, all the wrong things: kept grass snakes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/he-did-all-the-right-things-flew-aeroplanes-shot-fished-for-salmon/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“I couldn't keep the dimensions of my car in my head. Or my own, for I kept having accidents. I cracked cups. I dropped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/i-couldn-t-keep-the-dimensions-of-my-car-in-my-head-or-my-own-for-i/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“He was a complicated man, and an unhappy one. But he knew also that the world was full of simple miracles.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/he-was-a-complicated-man-and-an-unhappy-one-but-he-knew-also-that-the/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“It wasn't just that I saw in his book, reflected backwards and dimly, my own retreat into wildness. It was this: of all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/it-wasn-t-just-that-i-saw-in-his-book-reflected-backwards-and-dimly/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“and it was there, standing on the edge of a village playing field, that I gratefully stepped into novicehood again, as if I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/and-it-was-there-standing-on-the-edge-of-a-village-playing-field-that/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“She breathes hot hawk breath in my face.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/she-breathes-hot-hawk-breath-in-my-face/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“I look. There it is. I feel it. The insistent pull to the heart that the hawk brings, that very old longing of mine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/i-look-there-it-is-i-feel-it-the-insistent-pull-to-the-heart-that-the/) [Helen MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“History and hawks and hoods and the implications of taking something's sight away to calm it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/history-and-hawks-and-hoods-and-the-implications-of-taking-something/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) > [“It’s so beautifully made,’ she said. ‘It’s like a Prada shoe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/it-s-so-beautifully-made-she-said-it-s-like-a-prada-shoe/) [Helen Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) [Explore all 24 Helen Macdonald quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/) ## More Animals quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Humans are animals too, but some do not like to work from expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/humans-are-animals-too-but-some-do-not-like-to-work-from-expectations/) Mak\_786 > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [We must love animals in such a powerful way that we should reject to eat them!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-must-love-animals-in-such-a-powerful-way-that-we-should-reject-to/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [I bet plants go like 'Weeeeeeeee!' whenever they're swallowed by a giraffe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-plants-go-like-weeeeeeeee-whenever-they-re-swallowed-by-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It’s a small thing to help one animal, but to that one animal it’s a big thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-baur/it-s-a-small-thing-to-help-one-animal-but-to-that-one-animal-it-s-a/) [Gene Baur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-baur/) > [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/all-these-creatures-spend-their-time-explaining-realizing-happily/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [We're not very dangerous animals; we don't have a horn like a rhino or quills like a porcupine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/we-re-not-very-dangerous-animals-we-don-t-have-a-horn-like-a-rhino-or/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [“Plenty of animals had pets, but few were more devoted than the mouse, who owned a baby corn snake—“A rescue snake, she’d be quick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/plenty-of-animals-had-pets-but-few-were-more-devoted-than-the-mouse/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) [Browse all 6,813 Animals quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Riding out with the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, White recorded the first time he saw a kill with distanced fascination. The fox was dug out of a drain where it had taken refuge and thrown to the hounds. They tore it to pieces while a circle of human onlookers 'screeched them on'. The humans, White thought, were disgusting, their cries 'tense, self-conscious, and histerically animal'. But the hounds were not. 'The savagery of the hounds', he wrote, 'was deep-rooted and terrible, but rang true, so that it was not horrible like that of the human.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Helen Macdonald" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burstow-hunt-white-recorded-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Animals" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burstow-hunt-white-recorded-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/helen-macdonald-24364_animals_riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burst_849483.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/helen-macdonald-24364_animals_riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burst_849483.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/helen-macdonald-24364_animals_riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burst_849483.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Riding out with the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, White recorded the first time he saw a kill with distanced…” — Helen Macdonald", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Helen Macdonald", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-macdonald/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Riding out with the Old Surrey...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burstow-hunt-white-recorded-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-macdonald/riding-out-with-the-old-surrey-and-burstow-hunt-white-recorded-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```