Elephants Quotes

“They say that somewhere in Africa the elephants have a secret grave where they go to lie down, unburden their wrinkled gray bodies, and soar away, light spirits at the end.”
― Robert R. McCammon, Boy's Life

“Loyalty was a great thing, but no lieutenants should be forced to choose between their leader and a circus with elephants.”
― Neil Gaiman, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

“The Babar the Elephant book is sitting in front of me. I pick it up and start reading it. I remember reading it as a small Boy and enjoying it and imagining that I was friends with Babar, his constant Companion during all of his adventures. He went to the moon, I went with him. He fought Tomb Raiders in Egypt, I fought alongside him. He rescued his elephant girlfriend from Ivory Hunters on the Savanna, I coordinated the getaway. I loved that goddamn Elephant and I loved being his friend. In a childhood full of unhappiness and rage, Babar is one of the few pleasant memories that I have. Me and Babar, kicking some motherfucking ass.”
― james frey

“Elephants love reunions. They recognize one another after years and years of separation and greet each other with wild, boisterous joy. There's bellowing and trumpeting, ear flapping and rubbing. Trunks entwine.”
― Jennifer Richard Jacobson, Small as an Elephant

“Of all African animals, the elephant is the most difficult for man to live with, yet its passing - if this must come - seems the most tragic of all. I can watch elephants (and elephants alone) for hours at a time, for sooner or later the elephant will do something very strange such as mow grass with its toenails or draw the tusks from the rotted carcass of another elephant and carry them off into the bush. There is mystery behind that masked gray visage, and ancient life force, delicate and mighty, awesome and enchanted, commanding the silence ordinarily reserved for mountain peaks, great fires, and the sea.”
― Peter Matthiessen, The Tree Where Man Was Born

“Elephant, beyond the fact that their size and conformation are aesthetically more suited to the treading of this earth than our angular informity, have an average intelligence comparable to our own. Of course they are less agile and physically less adaptable than ourselves -- nature having developed their bodies in one direction and their brains in another, while human beings, on the other hand, drew from Mr. Darwin's lottery of evolution both the winning ticket and the stub to match it. This, I suppose, is why we are so wonderful and can make movies and electric razors and wireless sets -- and guns with which to shoot the elephant, the hare, clay pigeons, and each other.”
― Beryl Markham, West with the Night

“Just in case you thought elephants were all sweetness, I can attest to the fact that this one had the time of her life scaring the bejeezus out of those dudes.”
― James Patterson, Demons and Druids

“She's in the Catskill," Shopie began, but Scathach reached over and pinched her hand. "Ouch!"
I just wanted to distract you," Scathach explained. "Don't even think about Black Annis. There are some names that should never be spoken aloud."
That like saying don't think of elephants, Josh said, "and then all you can think about is elephants."
Then let me give you something else to think about," Scathach said softly. "There are two police officers in the window staring at us. Don't look," she added urgently.
Too late. Josh turned to look and whatever crossed his face--shock, horror, guilt or fear--bought both officers racing into the cafe, one pulling his automatic from its holster, the other speaking urgently into his radio as he drew his baton.”
― Michael Scott

“She owned the road
as an elephant owns the veldt
and like a big blue elephant
moved with massive grace
and dignity.”
― David Drake, Overdue Notice: Poems from the Library

“Elephants can sense danger. They're able to detect an approaching tsunami or earthquake before it hits. Unfortunately, Jack did not have this talent. The day his life was turned completely upside down, he was caught unaware.”
― Jennifer Richard Jacobson, Small as an Elephant

“Elephants don’t know anything about the world of ants; the peaks of mountains are oblivious of what is happening on the plains!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan, Antiquary Arago's Diary

“It is absurd for a man to kill an elephant. It is not brutal, it is not heroic, and certainly it is not easy; it is just one of those preposterous things that men do like putting a dam across a great river, one tenth of whose volume could engulf the whole of mankind without disturbing the domestic life of a single catfish.”
― Beryl Markham, West with the Night

“Elephants, it turns out, are surprisingly stealthy. As the sunlight fades, other species declare their presence. Throngs of zebras and wildebeests thunder by in the distance, trailing dust clouds. Cape buffalo snort and raise their horns and position themselves in front of their young. Giraffes stare over treetops, their huge brown eyes blinking, then lope away in seeming slow motion. But no elephants.”
― Thomas French, Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives

“I suppose if there were a part of the world in which mastodon still lived, somebody would design a new gun, and men, in their eternal impudence, would hunt mastodon as they now hunt elephant. Impudence seems to be the word. At least David and Goliath were of the same species, but, to an elephant, a man can only be a midge with a deathly sting.”
― Beryl Markham, West with the Night

“Q: How do you tell when there's an elephant in the pit?
A: Peanut shells on the floor.”
― Bucky Sinister, ALL BLACKED OUT & NOWHERE TO GO

“An agile, well-trained, brave elephant, ridden by a good mahout, its trunk armed with the kind of sabre known as a qartal and covered with chain mail, while the rest of its body is protected by sheets of bark and iron, surrounded by 500 men to defend it and protect it to the rear, can fight against 6000 men on horseback.”
― Al Masudi

“Q: What's the difference between a tweaker and an elephant?
A: The elephant will eat all your peanut butter.”
― Bucky Sinister, ALL BLACKED OUT & NOWHERE TO GO

“Mkhaya's herd is a good-sized group - sixteen in all, counting the calves - and even though they are the largest land mammals on earth, they are not always easy to find. Elephants, it runs out, are surprisingly stealthy.”
― Thomas French, Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives

“Slonovi ne znaju nistA o svijetu mrAvA, plAninski vrhovi ne poznAju zivot rAvnice.”
― Mehmet Murat ildan, Antiquary Arago's Diary

“He taught him to wag his trunk like a tail. Then Arnold painted the most beautiful cat's face on the elephant.”
― Milton Glaser, Smallest Elephant in the World

“Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants.”
― Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization

“By acknowledging how ridiculous something is, people know what’s real again. We need those refreshers. It’s amazing how out of touch people can be when pretending there’s no elephant in the room. People must be elephant finders. But not of those big, monstrous, disgusting elephants, but the cute tiny ones in the room that we were each privately suspecting.”
― Karl Kristian Flores, The Goodbye Song

“Sweet Elephant of the Morning by Stewart Stafford

O sweet elephant of the morning,
What loud noise you make,
With your leaden feet,
And trumpet voice.

You spray water,
On your thick, dusty skin,
And on anyone in proximity,
To your body.

Your trunk is a grey, reaching arm,
And your tusks resemble curved lances,
Or elongated walrus teeth,
To fight off rivals.

© Stewart Stafford, 2021. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“That is why, when you are close to an elephant, you feel so deeply. If they so choose, they have the ability to hold your sadness, so you may safely sit in the lonely seat of loss, still hopeful and full of love. Their great secret is that they know everything is a tide - not a black tide but the natural breath of life - in and out, in and out, and to be with them is to know this too.”
― Kira Jane Buxton, Hollow Kingdom

“I learn about beauty through a rough translation of Kurunthokai — verse 37. You could argue it says more about the nature of elephants, but it says a fair bit about beauty. When the female elephant is hungry, the male elephant strips off the bark of a toddy palm. The sap flows and quenches her thirst.”
― Sneha Subramanian Kanta

“But the Woodland Park Zoo faced an obstacle in the AZA, its accrediting institution. The AZA opposed elephant sanctuaries vehemently, since they took elephants out of the breeding pool. When zoos around the country started sending their older elephants to sanctuaries to retire, AZA threatened to -- and sometimes did -- yank their accreditation. (Today, the AZA has changed its tune on elephant sanctuaries. The organization even granted accreditation to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee in 2017.)”
― Emma Marris, Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World

“After the move, Chai began losing weight again, like she did during her time at the Dickerson Park Zoo, ultimately losing over 1,000 pounds. The Oklahoma Zoo had trained her to perform for the crowds, and during one of these performances Bamboo attacked her, knocking her into a fence.

On January 30, 2016, Chai was found dead in her cage. The cause of death was determined to be sever fat loss and a systemic blood infection.”
― Emma Marris, Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World

“What brings elephants to the waterhole?
The pain of life.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“A flea makes an elephant out of a fly.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov

“Humans are the only species that destroy anything and everything they do not have a need for or don't understand!”
― June Stoyer