Owl Quotes

• The Bat that flits at close of Eve
  Has left the Brain that won't believe.
  The Owl that calls upon the Night
  Speaks the Unbeliever's fright.

  William Blake

  Believe, Night, Scary

  'Auguries of Innocence' (c.1803) l. 25

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• The crow wished everything was black, the Owl, that everything was white.

  William Blake

  Animal, White, Bird

  William Blake, W. H. Stevenson (2007). “Blake: The Complete Poems”, p.116, Pearson Education

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• An owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees the the less it talks.

  Christie Watson

  Bird, Wisest

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• The owl is one of the most curious creatures. A bird that stays awake when the rest of the world sleeps. They can see in the dark. I find that so interesting, to be mired in reality when the rest of the world is dreaming. What does he see and what does he know that the rest of the world is missing?

  M.J. Rose

  Dream, Sleep, Dark

  M. J. Rose (2014). “Seduction: A Novel of Suspense”, p.41, Simon and Schuster

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• The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders At our quaint spirits.

  William Shakespeare

  Spirit, Wonder, Quaint

  "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

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• Owls are known as lonely birds; but it is not known that they have the forest as their best friend!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Lonely, Bird, Forests

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• There was a wise old owl who sat in a tree
  The less he spoke the more he heard
  The more he heard the less he spoke
  Why can't we be like that wise old owl in the tree?
  Speech must die to serve that which is spoken.

  Paul Ricoeur

  Wise, Tree, Speech

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• Don't count your owls before they are delivered.

  J. K. Rowling

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• The wailing owl screams solitary to the mournful moon.

  David Mallet

  Moon, Scream, Wailing

  David Mallet (1759). “Miscellaneous poems”, p.79

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• The owls are gathering; find out why soon.

  J. K. Rowling

  Gathering

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• I am both a night owl and an early bird. So I am wise and I have worms.

  Steve Carell

  Wise, Night, Bird

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• The little owls call to each other with tremulous, quavering voices throughout the livelong night, as they sit in the creaking trees.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Night, Voice, Tree

  Theodore Roosevelt (1983). “Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail”, p.39, U of Nebraska Press

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• Owl hasn't exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things.

  A. A. Milne

  Bird, Brain, Knows

  'Winnie-the-Pooh' (1926) ch. 9

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• An owl sound wandered along the road with me. I didn't hear it--I breathed it into my ears.

  William Stafford

  Sound, Ears

  William Stafford (1998). “The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems”, Graywolf Press

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• She is our moon. Our tidal pull. She is the rich deep beneath the sea, the buried treasure, the expression in the owl's eye, the perfume in the wild rose. She is what the water says when it moves.

  Patricia A. McKillip

  Moving, Eye, Moon

  Patricia A. McKillip (2015). “Solstice Wood”, p.77, Hachette UK

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• You can't hoot with the owls and then soar with the eagles

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  Eagles, Soar, Hoot

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• Other sound than the owl's voice there was none, save the falling of a fountain into its stone basin; for, it was one of those dark nights that hold their breath by the hour together, and then heave a long low sigh, and hold their breath again.

  Charles Dickens

  Fall, Dark, Night

  Charles Dickens (2015). “British Classics: A Tale of Two Cities (Illustrated)”, p.101, The Planet

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• But the owls themselves are not hard to find, silent and on the wing, with their ear tufts flat against their heads as they fly and their huge wings alternately gliding and flapping as they maneuver through the trees. Athena's owl of wisdom and Merlin's companion, Archimedes, were screech owls surely, not this bird with the glassy gaze, restless on the bough, nothing but blood on its mind.

  Mary Oliver

  Blood, Wings, Bird

  Mary Oliver (2006). “Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays”, p.22, Beacon Press

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• At home, I love reaching out into that absolute silence, when you can hear the owl or the wind.

  Amanda Harlech

  Home, Wind, Silence

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• Oft in the silence of the night,
  When the lonely moon rides high,
  When wintry winds are whistling,
  And we hear the owl's shrill cry,
  In the quiet, dusky chamber,
  By the flickering firelight,
  Rising up between two sleepers,
  Comes a spirit all in white.

  Louisa May Alcott

  Inspirational, Life, Lonely

  Louisa May Alcott (2001). “My Little Friend: And Other Stories”

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• Thou ominous and fearful owl of death.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Ominous, Fearful

  William Shakespeare, Michael Taylor (2004). “Henry VI, Part One”, p.200, Oxford University Press, USA

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• A wise old owl once lived in a wood, the more he heard the less he said, the less he said the more he heard, let's emulate that wise old bird.

  Flann O'Brien

  Wise, Bird, Woods

  Flann O'Brien (2007). “The Complete Novels”, Everyman's Library

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• Midnight is another planet! When the clock strikes twelve and if you are asleep, wake up, friend, and discover the beauties of this new planet: Discover the silence; discover the tranquillity; speak to the owls, speak to the moon; greet the hedgehogs and disappear in the midst of the mists!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Moon, Silence, Midnight

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• The owl goes not into the nest of the lark.

  Victor Hugo

  Larks, Nests, Notre Dame

  Victor Hugo (1904). “Notre Dame of Paris”

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• She wants to be flowers, but you make her owls. You must not complain, then, if she goes hunting.

  Alan Garner

  Flower, Hunting, Complaining

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