Quotent Quotables: This is why I wouldn't have worked out as a scientist.

To set up the scene: two scientists are climbing into a tree platform to spend the night seeing if they can spot a tiger:


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A gust of wind bent the tree over and lifted a squad of ants into the air. One of them landed in Robichaud's eye and bit him, sinking its pincers into the soft tissue of the eyeball....

Robichaud was all but blinded by pain and tears. Although his tears had drowned the ant that bit him, the body of the ant still clung there, its mandibles buried in the white of his eye. It felt like a cheese grater on his sclera.  ... Duckworth tried to pluck out the ant.... but [his] thick fingers could not immediately grasp the ant, and they knew they could not continue without the headlamp. They had to blend completely with the quiet darkness lest they spook a returning tiger. ... Robichaud resigned himself to a night of misery.

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-- The Last Unicorn, William DeBuys.