"Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell,' Holly advised him. 'That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky."
"She's drunk," Joe Bell informed me.
"Moderately," Holly confessed....Holly lifted her martini. "Let's wish the Doc luck, too," she said, touching her glass against mine. "Good luck: and believe me, dearest Doc — it's better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear."

But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky.

You can’t give your heart to a wild thing.

That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky.

You musn't give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do, the stronger they get, until they're strong enough to run into the woods or fly into a tree. And then to a higher tree and then to the sky.

If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky.

But the wild things cried, “Oh please don't go- We'll eat you up- we love you so!

Doc still loved true things but he knew that it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress.

Appropriately, his bird was the vulture. The dog was wronged by being chosen as his animal.

If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast? -Beauty & the Beast

But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go - we’ll eat you up - we love you so!”
And Max said, “No!”
The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved goodbye.

That's what we're afraid of. The wild. Those we can't buy. Those we can't threaten. Those we can't domesticate. Those we can't control.

I never saw a wild thing / sorry for itself,

I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us. A personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea.