| C E N T E R F O R T H E I N T E G R A T I V E S T U D Y O F A N I M A L B E H A V I O R |
| Writers often allude to animal behavior in their creative writing. Below are a few examples of famous quotations and lines of poetry gleaned from historical Western literature. |
| historical quotations . poetry lines . references |
| F A M O U S Q U O T E S A B O U T A N I M A L S |
From Plutarch to Shakespeare to Tennyson, see how authors include animals and animal behavior into their dialogue. |
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"It was the saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport,
yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest." Plutarch (~46 -~120 A.D.) Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals? "One hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen." Howell 1621. Letters. "Why do you lead me a wild-goose chase?" Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Don Quixote "A close mouth catches no flies." Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Don Quixote "Never look for birds of this year in the nests of the last." Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Don Quixote "My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour." William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Act II, Scene III, Twelfth Night "Let Hercules himself do what he may. The cat will mew and the dog will have his day." William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Hamlet "A man may fish with a worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish tht hath fed of that worm." William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Act IV, Scene III, Hamlet "Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in the shape of a camel? Polonius: By the mass, and 't is like a camel, indeed. Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel. Polonius: It is backed like a weasel. Hamlet: Or like a whale? Polonius: Very like a whale." William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Act III, Scene II, Hamlet "I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start." William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Act III, Scene I, King Henry V "You may as well say, that's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion." William Shakespeare (1564-1616) King Henry V "3 Fish: Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 1 Fish: Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ones. " William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Act II, Scene I, Pericles "Why, let the stricken deer go weep, The hart ungalled play; For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away. " William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Hamlet "Kiss till the cow comes home." Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher Act III, Scene I, Scornful Lady "Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; that is, more knave than fool." Christopher Marlowe (1565-1593) Act II, The Jew of Malta "The lion is not so fierce as painted." Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) Of Preferment "What is bigger than an elephant? But this also is become man's plaything, and a spectacle at public solemnities; and it learns to skip, dance, and kneel." Plutarch (~46 -~120 A.D.) Of Fortune "He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush." Plutarch (~46 -~120 A.D.) Of Garrulity "Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only." Plautus (~254 - 184 B.C.) Act IV, Scene 4, Truculentus "When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it." Pliny the Elder (23 - 79 A.D.) Book VIII, Section 103, Natural History "It has been related that dogs drink at the river Nile running along, that they may not be seized by the crocodiles." Phaedrus (~8 A.D.) Fable 25, 3, Book i "A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who in endeavouring to crush it gave himself a hard slap. Then said the fly jeeringly, "You wanted to revenge the sting of a tiny insect with death; what will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?" " Phaedrus (~8 A.D.) Fable 3, 1 Book v "A nightingale dies for shame if another bird sings better." Robert Burton (1576-1640) Subsection 6, Democritus to the Reader "To these crocodile tears they will add sobs, fiery sighs, and sorrowful countenance." Robert Burton (1576-1640) Subsection 4, Democritus to the Reader "A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden." Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Boswell. 1772. Chapter VIII, Life of Johnson "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Matthew Matthew, Chapter XIX, Verse 24, The Bible "Do you think I was born in a wood to be afraid of an owl?" Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Polite Conversation "She watches him as a cat would watch a mouse." Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Polite Conversation |
| P O E T R Y L I N E S A B O U T A N I M A L S |
These lines of poetry were gleaned from Barlett's Familiar Quotations (1901), thus are historical, considering Western literature only. |
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" 'T is sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home; 'T is sweet to know there is an eye will mark Our coming, and look brighter when we come." Lord Byron (1788-1824) Canto i, Stanze 123, Don Juan |
"And as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way." Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) Line 167, The Deserted Village |
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"He will hold thee, when his passion shall have spent its novel force, Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse." Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) Line 49, Locksley Hall |
"The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind." Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) Line 121, The Deserted Village |
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"In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove; In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) Line 19, Locksley Hall |
"My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here; My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer." Robert Burns (1759-1796) My Heart's in the Highlands |
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"Like a dog, he hunts in dreams." Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) Line 79, Locksley Hall |
" 'T was the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring,--not even a mouse; " Clement C. Moore (779-1863) A Visit from St. Nicholas |
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"The bird let loose in Eastern skies, Returning fondly home, Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies Where idle warblers roam; But high she shoots through air and light, Above all low delay, Where nothing earthly bounds her flight, Nor shadow dims her way. " Thomas Moore (1779-1852) Oh that I had Wings |
"The world's great age begins anew, The golden years return, The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn. " Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Line 1060, Hellas |
| R E F E R E N C E |
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Bartlett, John (comp.) 1901. Familiar Quotations, (Boston: Little, Brown). |
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| Educational resource by M.K. Holder, Ph.D. |
| historical quotations . poetry lines |
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