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Reader question: Please explain this sentence: “Sometimes you have to throw yourself in the lion’s den.” My comments: I have no idea what the speaker is referring to exactly, but basically the idea is this: You can’t achieve anything of note without taking risks, sometimes extraordinary risks. That’s the idea insofar as throwing yourself into the lion’s den is concerned. The lion’s den, you see, is the lion’s lair, its hiding and resting place, its home and residence. Lion’s are territorial animals, as you may well know. They guard their home with great vigilance and care. They do not welcome disturbing visitors in their abode, as far as all current knowledge indicates. And lions are also known as the king of the world – animal world, that is. All this, in short, means that the lion’s den is a dangerous place for a human to find himself/herself in. Mere contemplation of the idea is frightful. Hence, if you place yourself in the lion’s den, you put yourself at great risk and danger. The question to ask, naturally, is why do you want to place yourself in the lion’s den in the first place? One Chinese idiom may explain this. You’ve heard of people say this before, I am sure. “If you don’t go into the tiger’s den, you won’t be able to catch its cubs.” Tiger in the Chinese proverb replaces the lion but the ethos remains the same. | 
