Lions Quotes
More Lions Quotes
"I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open..."
ralph ellison— Chapter 1 (Invisible Man (1952))
Gentlemen, you have fought like lions and been led by donkeys.
erwin rommel— Said to captured British officers during the Siege of Tobruk, as quoted in The Guinness History of the British Army (1993) by John Pimlott, p. 138
Thou wear a lion’s hide! doff it for shame, And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.
william shakespeare— The Life and Death of King John, Constance, scene i (1598)
Saul and Jonathan were lovelyand pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions? I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
Bible (Old Testament)— Samuel1:23-7.
O taste and see that the L isgood: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.O fear the L, ye his saints: for there isno wanttothemthat fear him.The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the L shall not want any good thing.
Bible (Old Testament)— Psalms 34:8-10.
Had another dream about the lions at the doorThey were not half as frightening as they were beforeBut I'm thinking about eternitySome kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on meWalls, windows, trees, waves coming throughYou be in me I'll be in youTogether in eternitySome kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on meUp among the firs where it smells so sweetOr down in the valley were the river used to beI got my mind on eternitySome kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on me, and I'mWondering where the lions are and I'mWondering where the lions are...
bruce cockburn— Wondering Where the Lions Are, Track 6 (See also: Ottawa Valley and Algonquin Park)
She dropped her glove, to prove his love, then looked at him and smiled;He bowed, and in a moment leaped among the lions wild:The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regained his place,Then threw the glove, but not with love, right in the lady's face."By God!" said Francis, "rightly done!" and he rose from where he sat:"No love," quoth he, "but vanity, sets love a task like that."
leigh hunt— The Glove and the Lions
The tabloids are like animals, with their own behavioural patterns. There’s no point in complaining about them, any more than complaining that lions might eat you.
david mellor— Quoted in The Independent (1992-11-03) following his resignation in September of that year
Humanity is a pigsty, where lions, hypocrites, and the obscene in spirit congregate.
George Moore— Ch. 16. (Confessions of a Young Man (1886))
I came from nowhere, and shall beStrong, steadfast, swift, eternally:I am a lion, a stone, a tree,And as the Polar star in meIs fixed my constant heart on thee.Ah, may I stay forever blindWith lions, tigers, leopards, and their kind.
vita sackville-west— "The Greater Cats"
When freedom rises from the killing floor,No lock of iron or rivet can restrain the door.And no kind of army can hope to win a warLike trying to stop the rain or still the lion`s roar,Like trying to stop the whirlwind scattering seeds and sporesLike trying to stop the tin cans rapping out jailhouse semaphore.
joe strummer— Joe Strummer and Bono, "46664", written for Nelson Mandela's HIV/AIDS festival in 2003
This is a strange fraternity these sea lions and land lions, land unicorns and sea unicorns; the lion civilly rampant, tame and concessive like the long-tailed bear of Ecuador the lion standing up against this screen of woven air which is the forest: the unicorn also, on its hind legs in reciprocity.
marianne moore— "Sea Unicorns and Land Unicorns"
I should prefer an army of stags led by a lion, to an army of lions led by a stag.
benito mussolini— Chabrias , as quoted in A Treatise on the Defence of Fortified Places (1814) by Lazare Carnot, p. 50
Then the slow lip of fire moves across the prairie with precision While, somewhere, with your pliers and glue, you make your first incision And, in a moment of almost-unbearable vision, doubled over with the hunger of lions 'Hold me close', cooed the dove, who was stuffed now with sawdust and diamonds.
joanna newsom— Sawdust & Diamonds
From Hallaj, I learned to hunt lions, but I became something hungrier than a lion.
jalal al-din muhammad rumi— "Hallaj" Ch. 11 : Union
An army of stags led by a lion would be better than an army of lions led by a stag.
— Attributed to Chabrias, in A History of Ireland (1857) by Thomas Mooney, p. 760
An army of sheep led by a lion are more to be feared than an army of lions led by a sheep.
— Attributed to Chabrias, in The Older We Get, The Better We Were, Marine Corps Sea Stories (2004) by Vince Crawley, p. 67
It is better to have sheep led by a lion than lions led by a sheep.
— Attributed to Polybius in Between Spenser and Swift: English Writing in Seventeenth Century Ireland (2005) by Deana Rankin, p. 124, citing A Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland, from 1641 to 1652 (1880) by John Thomas Gilbert Volume I, i, p. 153 - 157; but conceivably this might be reference to Polybius the historian quoting either Alexander or Chabrias.
An army composed of sheep but led by a lion is more powerful than an army of lions led by a sheep.
— "Proverb" quoted by Agostino Nifo in De Regnandi Peritia (1523) as cited in Machiavelli - The First Century: Studies in Enthusiasm, Hostility, and Irrelevance (2005) by Mathew Thomson, p. 55
An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.
— Attributed to Chabrias, who died around the time Alexander was born, thus his is the earliest life to whom such assertions have been attributed; as quoted in A Treatise on the Defence of Fortified Places (1814) by Lazare Carnot, p. 50
An army of stags led by a lion would be better than an army of lions led by a stag.
— Attributed to Chabrias, in A History of Ireland (1857) by Thomas Mooney, p. 760
An army of sheep led by a lion are more to be feared than an army of lions led by a sheep.
— Attributed to Chabrias, in The Older We Get, The Better We Were, Marine Corps Sea Stories (2004) by Vince Crawley, p. 67
It is better to have sheep led by a lion than lions led by a sheep.
— Attributed to Polybius in Between Spenser and Swift: English Writing in Seventeenth Century Ireland (2005) by Deana Rankin, p. 124, citing A Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland, from 1641 to 1652 (1880) by John Thomas Gilbert Vol. I, i, p. 153 - 157; but conceivably this might be reference to Polybius the historian quoting either Alexander or Chabrias.
An army composed of sheep but led by a lion is more powerful than an army of lions led by a sheep.
— "Proverb" quoted by Agostino Nifo in De Regnandi Peritia (1523) as cited in Machiavelli - The First Century: Studies in Enthusiasm, Hostility, and Irrelevance (2005) by Mathew Thomson, p. 55
Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep.
— Attributed to Daniel Defoe (c. 1659 - 1731)
I am more afraid of one hundred sheep led by a lion than one hundred lions led by a sheep.
— Attributed to Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754 – 1838) Variants: I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.
I am not afraid of an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep. I am afraid of army of 100 sheeps led by a lion.
We were the Leopards, the lions; those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.
giuseppe tomasi di lampedusa— Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo (1958), Archibald Colquhoun (trans.) The Leopard (London: Fontana, 1963). p. 152
lions make leopards tame.
william shakespeare— William Shakespeare, Richard II (1595), Richard, Act I, scene i, line 174
