Kurt Vonnegut
Novelist, Satirist
"Perhaps I am the turtle, able to live simply anywhere, even underwater for short periods, with my home on my back."
Turtles quotes
Turtles
130 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Jonah Hill
Actor, Producer, Director
"I want to meet the man who saw a turtle and said, "People will LOVE the ninja version of that.""
James Bryant Conant
Chemist, Educator
"Just like a turtle, we only make progress if we stick our neck out."
Terry Pratchett
Author
"It was all very well going on about pure logic and how the universe was ruled by logic and the harmony of numbers, but the plain fact of the matter was that the Disc was manifestly traversing space on the back of a giant turtle and the gods had a habit of going round to atheists' houses and smashing their windows."
James Lee
Artist
"Nothing is more important than saving ... the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels. The humans? The planet does not need humans."
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Topics related to Turtles
Browse quotes that often appear alongside turtles — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Turtles quotes (page 1 of 7)
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"Warren is one of the best learning machines on this earth. The turtles who outrun the hares are learning machines. If you stop learning in this world, the world rushes right by you."
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"Turtles are greater than baby nephews, because it's ok to drop a turtle."
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"All the thoughts of a turtle are turtle"
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"We could all be in a turtle's dream, in outer space!"
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"The master was an old Turtle--we used to call him Tortoise--' Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked. We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle angrily; 'really you are very dull!' You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question,' added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent and looked at poor Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth."
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"If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?"
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"I've been looking at used car bargains. I'll frankly confess I'm scared to death of Fords. I've seen and heard of so many turning turtle."
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"I constantly watch 'The Simpsons' and an English cartoon called 'The Raccoons' and 'Gummi Bears.' I was obsessed with ninja films, and the 'Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles,' I used to love that as well."
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"Reeling and Writhing of course, to begin with,' the Mock Turtle replied, 'and the different branches of arithmetic-ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision."
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"Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime? Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime!"
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"The Giant Ocean Tank, with its 52 large viewing windows, is the main attraction here. Myrtle, a giant green sea turtle, is one of the tank's most popular animals, along with sharks, rays and more than 100 other species. The Aquarium Medical Center is a working animal hospital exhibit that allows visitors to observe veterinarians examining and treating sea creatures."
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"Hear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight! From the molten golden notes, And all in tune What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens while she gloats On the moon!"
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"The turtle couldn't help us."
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"I learn as much from a turtle as from a religious text."
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"And when you look at the Turtle's movie there is something there, definitely something there."
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"Turtle makes all men equal."
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"Well, I will find you twenty lascivious turtles ere one chaste man."
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"Dill said striking a match under a turtle was hateful. “How do you know a match don't hurt him?” “Turtles can't feel, stupid,” said Jem. “Where you ever a turtle, huh?"
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"Will you walk a little faster? said a whiting to a snail, "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail! See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance: They are waiting on the shingle--will you come and join the dance?"
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"The last level of metaphor in the Alice books is this: that life, viewed rationally and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale told by an idiot mathematician. At the heart of things science finds only a mad, never-ending quadrille of Mock Turtle Waves and Gryphon Particles. For a moment the waves and particles dance in grotesque, inconceivably complex patterns capable of reflecting on their own absurdity."
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