Farley Mowat Quotes

• Stephen Harper is probably the most dangerous human being ever elevated to power in Canada.

  Farley Mowat

  Power, Government, Political

  154 Copy quote

• We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.

  Farley Mowat

  Motivational, Animal, Reality

  Farley Mowat (2015). “Never Cry Wolf”, p.6, Open Road Media

  85 Copy quote

• We're under some gross misconception that we're a good species, going somewhere important, and that at the last minute we'll correct our errors and God will smile on us. It's delusion.

  Farley Mowat

  Errors, Important, Lasts

  72 Copy quote

• The wolf never kills for fun, which is probably one of the main differences distinguishing him from man.

  Farley Mowat

  Fun, Men, Differences

  Farley Mowat (2015). “Never Cry Wolf”, p.96, Open Road Media

  40 Copy quote

• On my 70th birthday, I was asked how I felt about mankind's prospects. This is my reply: We are behaving like yeasts in a brewer's vat, multiplying mindlessly while greedily consuming the substance of a finite world. If we continue to imitate the yeasts, we will perish as they perish, having exhausted our resources and poisoned ourselves in the lethal brew of our own wastes. Unlike the yeasts, we have a choice. What will it be?

  Farley Mowat

  Choices, Substance, World

  49 Copy quote

• Inaction will cause a man to sink into the slough of despond and vanish without a trace.

  Farley Mowat

  Men, Causes, Without A Trace

  49 Copy quote

• It is in our nature to travel into our past, hoping thereby to illuminate the darkness that bedevils the present.

  Farley Mowat

  Past, Darkness, Our Past

  Farley Mowat (1997). “Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World”, Roberts Rinehart Pub

  33 Copy quote

• Whenever and wherever men have engaged in the mindless slaughter of animals (including other men), they have often attempted to justify their acts by attributing the most vicious or revolting qualities to those they would destory; and the less reason there is for the slaughter, the greater the campaign for vilification.

  Farley Mowat

  Animal, Men, Quality

  Farley Mowat (2015). “Never Cry Wolf”, p.103, Open Road Media

  34 Copy quote

• I never let the facts get in the way of the truth!

  Farley Mowat

  Way, Facts, Inner Child

  Farley Mowat (2015). “Never Cry Wolf”, p.110, Open Road Media

  16 Copy quote

• And this is what happened, ands this is why the caribou and the wolf are one; for the caribou feeds the wolf, but it is the wolf that keeps the caribou strong.

  Farley Mowat

  Strong, Happened

  19 Copy quote

• I believe in God the way my dog does

  Farley Mowat

  Dog, Believe, Doe

  16 Copy quote

• Mutt enjoyed traveling by car, but he was an unquiet passenger. He suffered from the delusion, common to dogs and small boys, that when he was looking out the right-hand side, he was probably missing something far more interesting on the left-hand side.

  Farley Mowat

  Dog, Travel, Boys

  21 Copy quote

• Don't make a big distinction between fiction and non-fiction. These are arbitrary distinctions.

  Farley Mowat

  Arbitrary, Fiction, Bigs

  26 Copy quote

• Truth I have no trouble with, it's the facts I get all screwed up.

  Farley Mowat

  Facts, Trouble, Screwed Up

  14 Copy quote

• Don't let the facts interfere with the truth.

  Farley Mowat

  Facts, Interfere

  14 Copy quote

• Without a function, we cease to be. So, I will write till I die.

  Farley Mowat

  Writing, Function, Dies

  11 Copy quote

• I have to go on writing because I wouldn't be able to go on without writing. It is the only function that works for me, and without that function, I would die.

  Farley Mowat

  Writing, Goes On, Able

  11 Copy quote

• I write better in Cape Breton... too many people around in Ontario. Down there I meet all sorts of non-human people, but they don't bother me, and I don't feel I have to apologize on behalf of my species quite so often.

  Farley Mowat

  Writing, People, Ontario

  57 Copy quote

• After all, we fought the Yanks in 1812 and kicked them the hell out of our country - but not with blanks.

  Farley Mowat

  Country, Canada, Hell

  Farley Mowat (1985). “My Discovery of America”, McClelland & Stewart

  21 Copy quote

• If you are going to be a big personality, you've got to have some kind of characteristic gimmick.

  Farley Mowat

  Character, Personality, Gimmicks

  18 Copy quote

• I write every day. I'm always in the process of writing my last book, until the next one.

  Farley Mowat

  Book, Writing, Lasts

  18 Copy quote

• Ah me son, we don't be takin' nothin' from the sea. We has to sneak up on what we wants and wiggle it away

  Farley Mowat

  Son, Lakes, Sea

  Farley Mowat (1990). “The New Founde Land”, Seal Books

  20 Copy quote

• You never know when the devil might come calling.

  Farley Mowat

  Devil, Calling, Might

  Farley Mowat (2010). “Eastern Passage”, p.120, McClelland & Stewart

  19 Copy quote

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