Elephants quotes
387 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
"A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane."
"My roommate got a pet elephant. Then it got lost. It's in the apartment somewhere."
"If you cannot find a good companion to walk with, walk alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than to be with those who will hinder your progress."
"So geographers, in Africa maps, With savage pictures fill their gaps, And o'er uninhabitable downs Place elephants for want of towns"
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside elephants — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"If elephants didn't exist, you couldn't invent one. They belong to a small group of living things so unlikely they challenge credulity and common sense."
"The world is not a burden; we make it a burden by our desires. When the desires are removed, the world is as light as a feather on an elephant's back."
"Despite the reams of paperwork, obstacles worthy of a horse show, and a wait that can rival an elephant's gestation, adoption feels no different on the inside."
"Large organizations cannot be versatile. A large organization is effective through its mass rather than through its agility. Fleas can jump many times their own height, but not an elephant."
"You may control a mad elephant; You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger; Ride the lion and play with the cobra; By alchemy you may learn your livelihood; You may wander through the universe incognito; Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful; You may walk in water and live in fire; But control of the mind is better and more difficult."
"I have the feeling that I've seen everything, but failed to notice the elephants."
"When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run."
"Well, the big elephant in the whole system is the baby boomer generation that marches through like a herd of elephants. And we begin to retire in 2008."
"Women and elephants never forget."
"Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is "elephant"."
"Do not carry with you your mistakes. Do not carry your cares. Travel on alone. Like an elephant in the forest."
"Of all footprints, that of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, of all mindfulness meditations, that on death is supreme."
"Never let the guy with the broom decide how many elephants can be in the parade."
"Nothing appeases an enraged elephant so much as the sight of a little lamb."
"Elephants have a hard time adapting. Cockroaches outlive everything."
"Elephants are living treasures. Nature's gardeners. Nature's great teachers. Tragically some people don't give a damn. They prefer the dead treasure to the living one. The ivory. We must challenge this so-called 'trade' with all our might and shame on those who would condone it."
"Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. The elephant hauls himself from the mud. In the same way drag yourself out of your sloth."
"Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys. The perfection of traveling is to travel without baggage."
"You know...they say an elephant never forgets. What they don't tell you is, you never forget an elephant."
"Courage~ What makes the flag on the mast to wave? What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot?~Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz"
