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))
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"
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.
The consolations of the vulgar are bitter in the royal ear. Let physicians and confectioners and servants in the great houses be judged by what they have done, and even by what they have meant to do; the great people themselves are judged by what they are. I have been told that lions, trapped and shut up in cages, grieve from shame more than from hunger.
karen blixen— "The Dreamers"
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
Let dogs delight to bark and bite,For God hath made them so;Let bears and lions growl and fight,For 't is their nature too.
Isaac Watts— Song 16: "Against Quarrelling and Fighting".
But if cattle and horses and lions had handsor could paint with their hands and create works such as men do,horses like horses and cattle like cattlealso would depict the gods' shapes and make their bodiesof such a sort as the form they themselves have.
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While you make pretty speeches I'm being cut to shreds You feed me to the lions A delicate balance
thom yorke— "Like Spinning Plates"
Ah cannot we As well as cocks and lions jocund be, After such pleasures?
john donne— Farewell to Love, stanza 3.
From Hallaj, I learned to hunt lions, but I became something hungrier than a lion.
jalal al-din muhammad rumi— "Hallaj" Ch. 11 : Union
Let dogs delight to bark and bite, For God hath made them so; Let bears and lions growl and fight, For 'tis their nature too.
Isaac Watts— Isaac Watts, Against Quarrelling.
Join the company of lions rather than assume the lead among foxes.
— Talmud, Aboth, IV. 20. in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 124-25.
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
Alexander the Great
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.
From Hallaj, I learned to hunt lions , but I became something hungrier than a lion.
— Rumi, as translated in We Are Three : New Rumi Poems (1987) translated by Coleman Barks, p. 1
So as you may see in Daniel and his companions, that would rather choose to burn, and be cast to the lions than they would bow to the idol which Nebuchadnezzar had set up. When this 'slight offense', in the world's account, and a hot fiery furnace stood in competition, that they must either fall into sin, or be cast into the fiery furnace such was their tenderness of the honor and glory of God, and their hatred and indignation against sin, that they would rather burn than sin!
Thomas Brooks— Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (1652)
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
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.
