--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Hydrogen selenide, I decided, was perhaps…" description: "\"Hydrogen selenide, I decided, was perhaps the worst smell in the world. But hydrogen telluride came close, was also a smell from hell. An up-to-date he..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a3/oliver-sacks-2132_boiling_hydrogen-selenide-i-decided-was-perhaps_2085283.jpg" --- # Hydrogen selenide, I decided, was perhaps the worst smell… ![“Hydrogen selenide, I decided, was perhaps the worst smell in the world. But hydrogen telluride came close, was also a smell from hell. An up-to-date hell, I decided, would have not just rivers of fiery brimstone, but lakes of boiling selenium and tellurium, too.” quote by Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a3/oliver-sacks-2132_boiling_hydrogen-selenide-i-decided-was-perhaps_2085283.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a3/oliver-sacks-2132_boiling_hydrogen-selenide-i-decided-was-perhaps_2085283.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a3/oliver-sacks-2132_boiling_hydrogen-selenide-i-decided-was-perhaps_2085283.jpg) > “Hydrogen selenide, I decided, was perhaps the worst smell in the world. But hydrogen telluride came close, was also a smell from hell. An up-to-date hell, I decided, would have not just rivers of fiery brimstone, but lakes of boiling selenium and tellurium, too.” [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author uses vivid, grotesque imagery of toxic chemicals to illustrate how extreme sensory experiences can feel like personal torment. **In simple terms:** Bad smells can feel like personal hell. Key Takeaway Recognize and avoid harmful sensory triggers. Themes sensory perception discomfort extreme odors Mood analytical empathetic Type expository reflective When to use this quote - industrial safety - medical diagnosis - personal coping - environmental design Key Concepts neuroscience psychology environmental health Questions to Reflect On - How do you manage overwhelming smells? - What environments trigger your sensory distress? A Different Perspective Sensory tolerance varies among individuals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boiling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boiling/) [Decided](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decided/) [Fiery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiery/) [Hell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hell/) [Hydrogen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hydrogen/) [Hydrogen Selenide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hydrogen-selenide-4093927/) [Hydrogen Telluride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hydrogen-telluride-4093930/) [Lakes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lakes/) [Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rivers/) [Selenium Tellurium](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selenium-tellurium-4093931/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) [Smell Hell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell-hell-4093929/) [Telluride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telluride-184485/) [Up to date](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/up-to-date/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [Worst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worst/) [Worst Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worst-smell-4093928/) ## Related quotes > [Snowboarding! I love it! Some of the best places to snowboard are Telluride and Park Cities, Utah.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-hall/snowboarding-i-love-it-some-of-the-best-places-to-snowboard-are/) [Bridget Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-hall/) > [In the late 1960s, I ended up in Telluride, Colorado. It wasnt like the country club that it is now. It was very raw.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-henriksen/in-the-late-1960s-i-ended-up-in-telluride-colorado-it-wasnt-like-the/) [Lance Henriksen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-henriksen/) > [I celebrate three holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Telluride.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-thile/i-celebrate-three-holidays-thanksgiving-christmas-and-telluride/) [Chris Thile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-thile/) > [I've worked at this film festival in Telluride called the Telluride Film Festival. Been there since 2002. I used to make popcorn. I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-jenkins/i-ve-worked-at-this-film-festival-in-telluride-called-the-telluride/) [Barry Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-jenkins/) > [Well, we have this place in Telluride, Colorado. Its somewhere I can just get away and relax and think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-cocker/well-we-have-this-place-in-telluride-colorado-its-somewhere-i-can/) [Joe Cocker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-cocker/) ## More by Oliver Sacks > [“The feelings are similar, in some ways, to those one has in Rome or Athens, but quite different in other ways, because this culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-feelings-are-similar-in-some-ways-to-those-one-has-in-rome-or/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, 'fought to regain his lost faculties with the indomitable tenacity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-the-saddest-difference-between-them-was-that-zazetsky-as-luria/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/music-can-lift-us-out-of-depression-or-move-us-to-tears-it-is-a/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognise and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-five-senses-in-which-we-glory-and-which-we-recognise-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“But it must be said from the outset that a disease is never a mere loss or excess— that there is always a reaction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-it-must-be-said-from-the-outset-that-a-disease-is-never-a-mere/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [There is no one part of the brain which recognizes or responds emotionally to music. Instead, there are many different parts responding to different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/there-is-no-one-part-of-the-brain-which-recognizes-or-responds/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-think-there-is-no-culture-in-which-music-is-not-very-important-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Who cared if there was really any Being to pray to? What mattered was the sense of giving thanks and praise, the feeling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/who-cared-if-there-was-really-any-being-to-pray-to-what-mattered-was/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“unconscious motives may sometimes ally themselves to physiological propensities, of how one cannot abstract an ailment or its treatment from the whole pattern, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/unconscious-motives-may-sometimes-ally-themselves-to-physiological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have, each of us, a life-story, an inner narrative — whose continuity, whose sense, is our lives. It might be said that each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-each-of-us-a-life-story-an-inner-narrative-whose-continuity/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders -- Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-regard-music-therapy-as-a-tool-of-great-power-in-many-neurological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal, they address you. They accuse you. They seduce you. They humiliate you. They jeer at you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/psychotic-hallucinations-whether-they-are-visual-or-vocal-they/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Much more of the brain is devoted to movement than to language. Language is only a little thing sitting on top of this huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/much-more-of-the-brain-is-devoted-to-movement-than-to-language/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [About 10 percent of the hearing impaired get musical hallucinations, and about 10 percent of the visually impaired get visual hallucinations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/about-10-percent-of-the-hearing-impaired-get-musical-hallucinations/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [The rhythm of music is very, very important for people with Parkinson's. But it's also very important with other sorts of patients, such as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-rhythm-of-music-is-very-very-important-for-people-with-parkinson/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) [Explore all 177 Oliver Sacks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## More Boiling quotes > [That devilish Iron Horse, whose ear-rending neigh is heard throughout the town, has muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot, and he it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/that-devilish-iron-horse-whose-ear-rending-neigh-is-heard-throughout/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [how cruel, your veins are full of ice-water and mine are boiling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/how-cruel-your-veins-are-full-of-ice-water-and-mine-are-boiling/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I'm never going again on Met Gala. 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Like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-burton/given-that-you-re-meeting-a-sloth-that-feeling-is-generally-joy/) [Ann Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-burton/) > [If a lobster didn't look like a sci-fi monster, people would be less able to drop him alive into boiling water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/if-a-lobster-didn-t-look-like-a-sci-fi-monster-people-would-be-less/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [Since the advent of the Internet - more recently compounded by blogging - everyone can be a published voice. Any cowardly, anonymous anger-monger can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynda-resnick/since-the-advent-of-the-internet-more-recently-compounded-by-blogging/) [Lynda Resnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynda-resnick/) > [If you throw a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will hop right out. But if you put that frog in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephenie-meyer/if-you-throw-a-frog-in-a-pot-of-boiling-water-it-will-hop-right-out/) [Stephenie Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephenie-meyer/) [Browse all 156 Boiling quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boiling/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Hydrogen selenide, I decided, was perhaps the worst smell in the world. But hydrogen telluride came close, was also a smell from hell. 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