Serpent Quotes - Page 3

• I would rather trust my child to a serpent than to a teacher who does not believe in God.

  Karl G. Maeser

  Teacher, Children, Believe

  Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly. The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star, Volume 70, 1908.

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• The fiercest serpent may be overcome by a swarm of ants.

  Isoroku Yamamoto

  Overcoming, May, Ants

  Statement in opposition of the planned construction of the Yamato class battleships. "Scraps of Paper: The Disarmament Treaties Between the World Wars". Book by Harlow A. Hyde, 1988.

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• As St. Paul points out, Christ never meant that we were to remain children in intelligence: on the contrary, He told us to be not only "as harmless as doves," but also "as wise as serpents." He wants a child's heart, but a grown-up's head.

  C. S. Lewis

  Wise, Children, Heart

  C.S. Lewis (1960). “Mere Christianity”

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• Better a serpent than a stepmother!

  Euripides

  Stepmothers

  Euripides (1941). “The Alcestis”, p.21, Library of Alexandria

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• The Scorpion connects with the Serpent through the Dragon.

  Dion Fortune

  Dragons, Scorpions

  Dion Fortune (2016). “Psychic self-defense: The Classic Instruction Manual for Protecting Yourself Against Paranormal Attack”, p.75, Dion Fortune

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• Three things I have longed to see ... The sea serpent, a white rhinoceros, and an unselfish man.

  Myrtle Reed

  Men, Sea, White

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• Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.

  Mark Twain

  Mistake, Apples, Want

  Pudd'nhead Wilson ch. 2, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar" (1894)

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• For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with columbine innocence, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent: his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil: for without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced.

  Francis Bacon

  Wisdom, Men, Evil

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• I must first know myself, as the Delphian inscription says; to be curious about that which is not my concern, while I am still in ignorance of my own self, would be ridiculous. And therefore I bid farewell to all this; the common opinion is enough for me. For, as I was saying, I want to know not about this, but about myself: am I a monster more complicated and swollen with passion than the serpent Typho, or a creature of a gentler and simpler sort, to whom Nature has given a diviner and lowlier destiny?

  Socrates

  Farewell, Passion, Ignorance

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• Our minds can go no further. The human imagination is capable of no further expression of beauty than the carved owl of Athene, the archaic, marble serpent, the arrogant selfish head of the Acropolis Apollo.

  Hilda Doolittle

  Beauty, Selfish, Expression

  Hilda Doolittle, Louis L. Martz (1986). “Collected Poems 1912-1944”, p.327, New Directions Publishing

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• He who can curb his wrath as soon as it arises, as a timely antidote will check snake's venom that so quickly spreads, - such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds its worn-out skin.

  Gautama Buddha

  Buddhist, Giving Up, Wrath

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• It was terribly beautiful to Tess today, for since her eyes last fell upon it she had learnt that the serpent hisses where the sweet birds sing.

  Thomas Hardy

  Beautiful, Sweet, Eye

  Thomas Hardy (2016). “Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Works of Hardy”, p.71, 谷月社

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• Not as the plants and flowers of Earth, growing peacefully beneath a simple sun, were the blossoms of the planet Lophai. Coiling and uncoiling in double dawns; tossing tumultuously under vast suns of jade green and balas-ruby orange; swaying and weltering in rich twilights, in aurora-curtained nights, they resembled fields of rooted serpents that dance eternally to an other-worldly music.

  Clark Ashton Smith

  Flower, Twilight, Simple

  Clark Ashton Smith (2011). “The Demon of the Flower”, p.5, eStar Books

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• The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the union of the states be cherished and perpetuated. Let the open enemy to it be regarded as a Pandora with her box opened, and the disguised one as the serpent creeping with his deadly wiles into paradise.

  James Madison

  Heart, Advice, Enemy

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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• Those who give you a serpent when you ask for a fish, may have nothing but serpents to give.

  Khalil Gibran

  Giving, Judgement, May

  Khalil Gibran “The New Frontier and Sand and Foam”, Library of Alexandria

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• The Green-eyed Monster causes much woe, but the absence of this ugly serpent argues the presence of a corpse whose name is Eros.

  Minna Antrim

  Jealousy, Names, Green

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• And hence one master-passion in the breast, Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest.

  Alexander Pope

  Passion, Masters, Breasts

  Alexander Pope (1748). “An essay on man. Enlarged and improved by the author. With the commentary and notes of mr. Warburton”, p.59

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• Spiritual wisdom consists in finding out the subtleties, policies, and depths of any indwelling sin... to trace this serpent in all its turnings and windings; be able to say, at its most secret actings, 'This is your old way and course; I know what you aim at.'

  John Owen

  Spiritual, Secret, Acting

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• LANGUAGE, n. The music with which we charm the serpents guarding another's treasure.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Music, Guarding, Treasure

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2444, Delphi Classics

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• The trail of the human serpent is thus over everything.

  William James

  Trails, Humans

  William James (2015). “Pragmatism: Human Understanding”, p.23, 谷月社

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• An arrow may fly through the air and leave no trace; but an ill thought leaves a trail like a serpent.

  Charles Mackay

  Thinking, Air, Arrows

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• What of the old serpent who cannot shed his skin, and calls all others naked and shameless?

  Khalil Gibran

  Judgement, Skins, Naked

  Khalil Gibran (2007). “Kahlil Gibran: Masterpieces”

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• I'm always keen to use my body in my work, so I'm looking forward to the motion capture for Smaug. Both Gollum and King Kong were primates, whereas I'm playing a serpent, so it'll be interesting - I'll have to tie my legs together, possibly, or else they'll be kind of splayed out to the side as a reptile's should be.

  Benedict Cumberbatch

  Kings, Ties, Interesting

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• The very serpents bite their tails; the bees forget to sting, For a language so celestial setteth up a wondering. And the touch of absent mindedness is more than any line, Since direction counts for nothing when the gods set up a sign.

  Nathalia Crane

  Tails, Lines, Bees

  Nathalia Crane (1925). “The Janitor's Boy and Other Poems”

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• Without the power of the Industrial Union behind it, Democracy can only enter the State as the victim enters the gullet of the Serpent.

  James Connolly

  Democracy, Unions, Victim

  James Connolly (1915). “The re-conquest of Ireland”

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