Nuggets

***mknutson*** · May 11th, 2009, 10:02 AM

Nuggets: This page contains nuggets and quotes about BASE or more general ones that apply well to our sport. Some come from BASE jumpers, some from famous philosophers, and some from random people on the street.

Occasionally BASE WIKI might mistakenly attribute a quote to the wrong person. If you spot an error, or know who quoted one of the unknown ones, please leave a comment at the bottom and it’ll get fixed.

This list is also the source of the random nugget at the top of every page.

The whole world is jumpable. - Carl Boenish
The edge… there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who know where it is are those that have gone over. - Hunter S. Thompson
If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much space. - Rick Harrison
Dress for the crash, not the jump. - Adam Filipino
Risking it all for Nothing! - Dennis McGlynn
Have fun, don't die! - Johnny Utah
The ground is the limit! - Carl Boenish
We’re just sportsman, and this is our sport. - Mark Hewitt
This has got good idea written all over it… - Nikolas Hartshorte
Never go to jail with a packed rig. - Unknown
A false sense of security is better than no security at all - John Owens
That antenna looks like a death sandwich without the bread - Steve Morrell
Personally I don’t like to dwell on the structural strength of the individual pieces. It’s enough to freak anybody out. I just pack it up and fling my body off… - Ray Losli
It’s not the people in the sport, it’s the sport in the people. - Jaap Suter
After almost 1000 BASE jumps, let me tell you something… a good line-over, yeah, that’ll really wake you up. - Corkscrew
Anyone can make 200 jumps. Style and intelligence speaks about who you are. - Michael Cooper
It’s okay to fuck it up, just don’t fuck it up all the way down. - Unknown
Luck favors the prepared mind - Pasteur
You can do everything right, and still die. - Unknown
What kind of candy-ass says “whoah” heading into a cliff? Psh… - Jason Cooper, BASE 736
I was staring death in the face, and I just pointed my middle finger at him. - BASE 1018 being stupid and smoking it low
Ya mate, it’s all fun and games until you’re smashed up on the talus. - Nick Gough, BASE 911
I do have a screw loose, but this tightens it for me. - Joel Skaggs talking about BASE
What happened in my life that makes me think this behaviour is acceptable? - Peter Konrad, BASE 935, Founder of Gravity Research Institute
Skydiving? Nah, that’s too Ben & Jerry’s for me. - some British Jumper
Skydiving is like taking BASE jumping, and putting it under about a hundred pillows, until you can barely hear what it’s saying. - Michael Cooper
I think if anybody had said, let’s go down, everybody would have gone. But we decided to jump. - Witness of #43 on The List
Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance - Unknown
Don’t blame the rig, blame the rigger. - Unknown
Put on your gear and die like a man! - Steve Morrell
Skydiving’s a DORK sport! - Moe Viletto
Is that your diaper in your hand? GO STOWED! - BASE 583
You dry faster than you heal. - Unknown
When you sacrifice altitude unnecessarily, you are giving up your advantage in many situations. - Johnny Utah
It’s better to be in control of an out-of-control situation than out of control of an in-control one. - Dennis McGlynn
Gravity has no holidays! - Mark Hewitt
The only thing better than BASE jumping is BASE jumping home-made gear. - Unknown
Man, drinking milk that’s expired and out of date suddenly doesn’t seem so scary anymore. - Unknown jumper at the edge
If the people look like ants, pull. If the ants look like people, don’t bother. - Unknown
The only thing better than a freshly packed BASE rig is a freshly unpacked BASE rig. - Unknown
The Sport of BASE has progressed through leaps and bounces. - Unknown
It’s okay, I knew this would happen. - Written on a BASE jumper’s tombstone
In spite of all the danger, there comes a time when the animal inside says "let me be free." And you must roll the dice and throw yourself into the unknown and see what happens because that-that is truly living. - Dwain Weston
If you don’t know the words, hummit man! - Vrank LaPoole
Even if you’re about to land on a cop, don’t forget to flare. - Marcia Brandes, BASE 682, talking to Johnny Utah about his landing after the cops let him go.
It was the most enjoyable frightening experience I’ve ever had, in my entire life. - Rick Harrison
I like jumping with you, I don’t have to outrun the cops, I just have to outrun you. - Phil Smith, BASE 1, talking to Rick in the hospital after he broke his legs on a jump
Broken bones heal, glory is forever - Steve Morrell
Death is the ultimate rush, that’s why mother nature saved it till last. - Steve Morrell
Death is mother nature’s way of telling you to slow down. - Unknown
No cover for wilfull exposure to exceptional risk and dangerous pursuits. - Common travel insurance clause
The closer you are to death the more you appreciate life. - Unknown
I’ll give you keys to all the buildings! - We don’t want the keys to your buildings, John, that’s not why we’re here. - Tar and feathering incident of John V.
Hey man… are those alligators down there? - Where? - Everywhere! Look! - (long pause) Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit! - Conversation between Gardner and Earl at the exit point
It’s more akin to a circus act. - Bill Ottley, when asked if BASE was a form of skydiving.
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. - Leonardo da Vinci
Well mate, sometimes you’ve just got to put a bullet in the chamber, give it a spin, and pull the fuckin’ trigga. - Dwain Weston
Seven days without a BASE jump makes one weak. - Mark Hewitt (BASE 46)
BASE Jumping isn’t worth dying for, but it is worth risking dying for - Anonymous Climber
Dude, put that down. You’ll have plenty of time to read in the hospital. - Ray Losli
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; rather, it is because we dare that they are not difficult. - Jan Davis, quoting Seneca
On a long enough timeline everyone's survival rate drops to zero. - Chuck Palahniuk
Take your time, but let's go. - Johnny Utah
You moss tosser, you soft cock, just jump mate. - Dwain Weston
You’re standing on your Bridle. Idiot! - Roland “Slim” Simpson
If you have time to panic, you have time to be doing something productive. - Josh Whipple
Death is an integral part of the game (although not part of the fun). Odds are that one of us will be dead within the next 3 years. - Dwain Weston, a little less than a year before his death
What could possibly go wrong? - Unknown
You couldn’t make this shit up. - Unknown
Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant only taste of death but once - Shakespeare
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then get the whole and genuine meanness of it…or if it were sublime, to know it by experience. - Thoreau
Real BASE jumpers are rebels more than freedom fighters. The good ones seek neither publicity, permission, nor support. They are the last cowboys of aviation and when gone this sport will be just another pastime, like golf or bowling. - Nick Di Giovanni
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson or Desiderata, take your pick.
I’m sure when He looks down on us BASE jumpers, he gives Mary the elbow and says proudly, “look at that, the thing I made them the most afraid of, they went and turned into a sport!” - Nick Di Giovanni
Two things happen when you die. First your footsteps blow away and then people stop telling your story - Kevin McGuire
BASE jumper dies in senseless tragedy - Dead Steve via 460
When your snout is in the trough, its rim becomes your horizon. - Jason Clark
Your goal should be to someday walk away from BASE, not have BASE walk away from you. - John Agnos
If you can go, you can stow. - Nick Di Giovanni
The best place for BASE is the edge I’ve got my toes curled over. - Unknown
Aerials are so 19902s - BASE 515
I love base like a fat kid loves cake. - Bryan Adamez
I don’t care if you’re the best, just that you are there to log your last jump. - Avery Badenhop
If bowling balls would explode when not handled carefully, different people would play the game. - Jaap Suter, BASE 1018
As long as Nick Di Giovanni doesn’t give me a number, I will be a very happy man. - Tom Begic
BASE would cost a shit load if it were sold by the gram. - BASE 813
…if you ever have to jump from your ego to your IQ please pack slider-up. - BASE863
You want to deploy high enough that you can actually see what tree you’re going to land in before you hit it. - Yuri Kuznetsov
Getting a sub 1000 number ain’t worth doing stupid shit - you may get a sub 100 number instead. BASE 813 on BASE numbers versus fatality numbers
It’s not a competition, just an exhibition. - Tom Manship
I have my own gun. - Tom Manship, coming into town
Three decades, hundreds of thousands of successful jumps, 85 deaths? One plane crash and you wipe out over 300 people in one second. - Ian Richardson
And for the others out there, remember, the object is much more of the enemy than the ground is! - BASE 460
There are two kinds of BASE jumpers; those who have had serious accidents, and those who will have serious accidents. - Jeb Corliss
When We Were Nuts; that’s a Cruislite in a Racer, a Strato Cloud in a Wonderhog, and a Peggy in another Racer. The canopies are all bagged without tail pockets. The only concession to BASE are 48 and 52-inch hand held pilot chutes. - Nick Di Giovanni
Oct. 20, XXXX. Solo Antenna, 7502. 12:50 am. Cold, Dark, Lonely. Scared. Waited up top to get courage. It wasn’t working, so I went anyways. - Rob Price
I think BASE jumping is very related to music in the sense that both have an amazing ability to level my head when everything around me seems to be on the verge of coming crashing down. - Chad Peabody
He asked: “Why did he land in the water both times?” And I replied, “Oh, because he’s a paraplegic.” He had no idea! - Unknown, talking about Russel
Kid… It never stops being scary. - Unknown jumper, right before taking his Wonderhog off the edge
I have printouts of all towers and directions to get to them. Will talk to locals some more. - Dwain Weston
You can carry a handgun in your checked-in luggage as long as it is unloaded and you declare it. - Dwain Weston
Drugs and gravity don’t mix too well. - BASE 460
While the average man sleeps, the BASE man leaps. - Amy Bailey
Go that way really fast and if anything gets in your way, turn! - BASE 460, quoting from the movie “Better Off Dead”
While the average man sleeps, the BASE man leaps. - Amy Bailey
It doesn’t shorten life expectancy, rather it lengthens it by turning ordinary seconds into precious eternities. - Wayne Crill
So many people spend their entire lives asleep while only a select few know what it is like to be truly awake. - Jack Cravatt
Should we run? - Unknown BASE jumper
Don’t push it when doing it at all is pushing it. - Robin Heid
There’s no such thing as being paranoid when they’re out to get you. - Earl Redfern
As an optimist, I’d say that parachute is at least half open. - Unknown
Rationalize, jump, then justify - Unknown
It just doesn’t seem that crazy anymore now that I think I know what I’m doing. - BASE 460
Remember, There´s a big planet and it is heading straight for you. - Unknown
Well, I’ll step off and do a 2 second delay, pitch my pilot chute and then wait 6 to 8 weeks for opening. - John Hoover
If you aren't head up and stable on launch you are either very high, very good or very worried. - Unknown
Its like facing a firing squad and they all miss. - Unknown, trying to explain BASE
It’s all about risk management, and the way I saw it, prayer was included in my risk management. - BASE 460
There I was in freefall and then all of a sudden someone tried to shove a planet up my arse. - Bill Legg
This looks dangerous, you go first! - Unknown
Sounds dangerous, count me in. - Unknown
It’s suicide without the commitment. - Joe Weber
What kind of a man would live life without daring? Is life so sweet that we should criticize men that seek adventure? Is there a better way to die? - Charles Lindberg
Carelessness and Overconfidence are usually more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks. - Wilbur Wright
No, you gotta flick it like your life depends on it… - Seth Blake
That was perfect! Do it again! - Seth Blake to a BASE student after seeing him do a big belly flop into the pool
The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake, after a student’s first jump
Seems to me that if your talking about it, you must have done something right. - Seth Blake to a fellow jumper who complained about his pain after a poor landing
Happy are the ones who are willing to take the risk to see their dreams come true. - Unknown
Are you ready for a 180 off-heading with a line over, right now? - Mick Knutson
Remember guys; the higher the fatality rate, the greater the glory. - Dwain Weston
Fly or die! - Johnny Utah
After the skygod burned the site, AJ went to the DZ, and kicked him square in the nuggets. - Unknown
We didn’t jump from that building, we jumped from a plane and made an emergency landing. - BASE 515 to the authorities
LIVE FREE! - BASE 515 as he was being handcuffed
I look over my shoulder and count 10 floors go by then deploy my chute - BASE 515 when asked how he knows when to “pull the cord”
It’s a good day to die - Damion Hanson
Mosquitoes, here I come - Spike, before jumping into Moab’s Green River canyon in the summer
Just stay in the wind shadow - Randy Harrison, just before jumping in a 20 knot wind
I’m sorry my sport interrupted your sport. - Earl, right after landing in the middle of a soccer game.
Hey Bromo, you just pull whenever you get scared and then I’ll pull. - Bob Neley
You tried to fucking kill me! You tried to fucking kill me! You tried to fucking kill me! - Bob Neley, after a two way with Earl
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing that you think you can not do. - Eleanor Roosevelt
I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experiences behind him. - Eleanor Roosevelt
When we are not sure, we are alive. - Graham Greene
Free man is by necessity insecure, thinking man is by necessity uncertain - Erich Fromm
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. - FDR
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. - George S. Patton
As my own life began to slip away, I was stuck with an overwhelming sense of how wonderful it is to be alive. - Art Davidson
Evolution will be served, one way or another. - Unknown
Now that we’ve run out of booze, that means we’ll have to go climbing. - Unknown
If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished. - Unknown
You just don’t see that everyday! - Climber seeing a jumper fly by
Subterminal freefall gives me an erection. - Abbie
I used to BASE jump, but my girlfriend won’t let me any more - Unknown
No doubt in my mind at all, I’m old school. There’s only two reasons to BASE jump; for the girls, and for the glory. Everything else pales. - Rob Price
I BASE, therefore I am. - Avery Badenhop
BASE makes me wet. - BASE 763
I do it because the chicks dig it. - Shannon
Because sometimes destiny isn’t fast enough and it’s a good way to compare host country hospitals to your home country’s. - Unknown
Dude, if you blow your yonkles, how are you going to schlare the tarp? - Abbie, quoting McConkey
I don’t get girls, I don’t look cool, I don’t get free stuff. Why the fuck do I do this shit? - BASE 813
Everyone I see doing this, they have the shaking hand. - Xaver Bongard
I’ve been preparing to piss myself. From what I understand, it’s mandatory. - Jason Cooper, BASE 736
Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter accusations. - Unknown
Admit nothing, deny everything, and demand proof. - Unknown
Let's jump that bridge when we come to it. - Unknown
Everyone is this sport has at least one screw loose, probably two. - Unknown
You should have heard all the people up on the bridge screaming “Kick out of it!” I mean, what part of the wheelchair don’t they understand? - Collin, talking about Russel
The danger in BASE is not that its dangerous, it’s that death is a rather final state of being, and it’s always just around the corner. - Jaap Suter, BASE 1018
There is something meditative in BASE packing, as with most tasks that might help save your life. - Jarhead analogy of Gulf War veteran Anthony Swofford talking about rifle cleaning.
BASE is sex with the most beautiful woman out there: Mother Nature. - Unknown
I believe that we’re just a weird statistical anomaly. Parachutes actually only “work” about one time in 5,700,000. Every time a parachute opens, it’s really just a freak accident. - Chad Peabody, joking about how well BASE gear appears to work.
…and you wonder why we don’t meet any women - BASE813 to BASE811 on top of a 220ft Power Tower on a Saturday Night
If you don’t like it, Fuck off - BASE621
No there does not to seem to be any suicide here, just a bunch of BASE jumpers and they say they have not seen anything - Paramedic to his control called out to a “suicide” on a legal UK cliff asking the 7 BASE jumpers packing if they had seen anything unusual
I could be at home watching “The Bill” on TV now - One UK Jumper to another on top of a 500ft A deciding whether to jump
Fucking Hell, everything looks so much closer in the city - UK Jumper to BASE813 about to jump his first B
It should be fine.I think I'll be able to see the wall before I hit it. - SBCMac on top of an object in a very thick fog.
“Are you meant to be doing that?” “Of course we are!” - Conversation between groundcrew and unsuspecting driver passing an A
Puking and shitting in the pants are normal bodily functions. - Unknown
Where did you find pants big enough to fit your balls? - Unknown
BASE is equally as boring as skydiving. - Unknown
"Fly Pants make you pull low, and its like cocaine! Everyone should be awere of the side effects of a good flight!You just d-o-n-t want to pull! Its just to fun! And the ground does not look that scary!" -BASE 434
John should have said he ground launched, found some lift, and hit this stupid tower in the middle of nowhere! - Nick Digiovanni, BASE 194
I’m Jewish, I’m the exact opposite of Al Quada! - Groundcrew explaining to the police he’s not there for terrorist activities
Numbers? &*^% the numbers, just love the company my puppies… - Joy Harrison, administrator of BASE numbers
Commitment, Enthusiasm and Skill. In that order. - Frank on what you need to succeed
So strut off that motherfucker like you own it. - Ray Losli on jumping off a cliff
If you would get paid for every opened object, you would be rich. - 2 PAC to BASE 913
Guys, we came alive; let’s also leave alive. - Igor Fedoruk on exit
..but his track was insane. - Igor Fedoruk after a bone-crashing landing
It’s the right of every experienced BASE jumper to take advantage of a BASE jumper wannabe - 913 explaing to a student why he has to bring him the beer
BASE is hopeless. That’s why it’ll last forever. - Conversation between two jumpers
I didn't come here to spin doughnuts! - Unknown - starting out at Bridge Day 1989
Altitude is not your friend any more. - Yuri
He [Dwain Weston] didn’t even have a close second and still doesn't. - Jeb Corliss
If you seek limits, you will find limits. - Mattias Nord - watching a BASE instructional video
The BASE gods don't take kindly to those that put in 51% effort! - Tom Begic
I remember the day we were all jumping past DW hanging on the wall at the eagle’s nest. I had a 90 left and he yelled: “No room over here mate!” - GoWayLow
Damn the cops! Full gravity ahead! - Steve Morrell
SEVEN Q’S BONGO! - Abbie
I’d like to leave a mark in life, just not in concrete like you. - Simon Sherr
In skydiving, one chooses the jump. In BASE, the jump chooses you. - BASE 283
I really like jumping buildings, probably because I haven't hit one yet - BASE 704
See you on the other side, don't be late - Tungflik
For Sale: Parachute. Only used once, never opened, small stain. - unknown
Do you think that birds ever want to put on human suits to see what it feels like to go for a walk? - Tony “Coombesy” Coombes
Keep the [fatality] list in the light and the sport in the dark, which is where it belongs. - BASE 515
Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Woohoo, what a ride!” - unknown
I love that part when you let go, and balance there for moment suspended between heaven and hell. You haven’t left yet, but you can’t go back… - NickDG
I think that 90% of people who think they are ready for BASE probably are not. The other 10% don’t all BASE jump. - Tonto
We could either climb down, or talk the 10 second express. Yeah, the express shuttle sounds way funner! - Michigan Crew
Do we have to break the law every day? - Bruce Kramer
Somebody should print out these quotes, paste them to rocks with those little GI-Joe parachutes, and throw them off a cliff. See which ones have the best landings, and post those as “best of” nuggets. - Greg Underwood

Wild Bill? — 04 May 2007, 17:32
I know the origin and correct phrasing of the quote,”Death is mother nature's way of telling you to slow down. - Unknown”
I was a combat advisor to a Vietnamese Armor Cav unit in 1971–72. My Op Sgt, a vietnamese corporal and I were in a jeep doing about 65 MPH when we got caught in an ambush on highway 4 in South Vietnam early one morning. We took six rounds through the jeep, but only one round through my Op sergeant’s leg - between the two bones in his lower right leg. Since the speedo needle was at the “H” in the speedo’s label of M.P.H (about 65MPH) we adopted the motto, “Death is Mother Nature’s way of saying, “ Slow Down”.
Bill Calfee, form Army Captain, Regular Army, Ranger.

todo: Want to see if this table format would look better for all the nuggets:

Quote	Author
The whole world is jumpable.	Carl Boenish
Risking it all for Nothing!	Dennis McGlynn
The edge… there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who know where it is are those that have gone over.	Hunter S. Thompson
It's your building, you go first!	Mick Knutson
This has good idea written all over it!	Nikolas Hartshorte
Quote	Author