Elephant Quotes

“The rider evolved to serve to the elephant.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

“Right now I've got just two rules to live by.

Rule one: don't taunt elephants.
Rule two: don't stand next to anybody who taunts elephants.

-Sergeant Schlock”
― Howard Tayler, The Tub of Happiness

“I'm an elephant today. I will need to have lots of room and also a bowl of water on the floor.”
― Jesse Ball, The Curfew

“Brahma and Airavata

Long ago in lands of golden sand
Brahma turned to Saraswati
and gently kissed her inked hand....”
― Muse, Enigmatic Evolution

“A novelist is an elephant, but an elephant who must pretend to forget.”
― Mary McCarthy

“That's odd. It looks almost as if Nick is picking a fight with that elephant."

"Well, the elephant started it."

"That's irrelevant. Fighting with civilians is against the rules. Go break it up."

-Admiral Breya Andreyasn & Sergeant Schlock”
― Howard Tayler, The Tub of Happiness

“They can't expect anyone to actually pay for a shirt that says, 'I (picture of an elephant) the San Diego Zoo.' What does that even mean?”
― Adam Rex, Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story

“The very desire to preserve animals was a subjective sentiment of fail in the animal's intrinsic worth. It was a feeling possessed by most of the scientists there, who regarded the wildebeeste migration with the same awe that others feel for the Mona Lisa, but they would not admit this sentiment into their arguments because it could not be backed up by facts; the right and worng of aesthetics being imponderables not open to scientific analysis. At the end of the meeting there was a consensus of opinion on only one fact, that there was an urgent need for research before taking any hasty action.”
― Ian Douglas-Hamilton, Among the Elephants

“The moment I see her, there’s a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert.”
― Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes

“Grey as a mouse,
Big as a house,
Nose like a snake,
I make the earth shake,
As I tramp through the grass;
Trees crack as I pass.
With horns in my mouth
I walk in the South,
Flapping big ears.
Beyond count of years
I stump round and round,
Never lie on the ground,
Not even to die.
Oliphaunt am I,
Biggest of all,
Huge, old, and tall.
If ever you'd met me
You wouldn't forget me.
If you never do,
You won't think I'm true;
But old Oliphaunt am I,
And I never lie.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

“Run after an elephant and you will find out why you are not a mouse.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“Of what benefit is size to the elephant when though, being the largest jungle animal is not king of the jungle; not even uncle of the jungle?”
― Vincent Okay Nwachukwu, Weighty 'n' Worthy African Proverbs - Volume 1

“An elegant woman is like an elephant. She makes her presence felt.”
― Gift Gugu Mona, Woman of Virtue: Power-Filled Quotes for a Powerful Woman

“A bad UI is like an elephant in a room of blind people.”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“Elephant toddlers are a handful. You think humans are bad? Try putting a two-hundred-pound baby elephant in time-out.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“Regarding the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project atop Mauna Kea, the elephant in the room is High Altitude Observatory Disease (HAOD).”
― Steven Magee

“It is pitiful how elephants, once plentiful are depleted because of their beautiful ivory.”
― Vincent Okay Nwachukwu, Weighty 'n' Worthy African Proverbs - Volume 1

“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

“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

“Well, good night," he said. "I'm off to the elephant with my kids. On the supposition that you should need me some night, you'll find me there. I live on the second floor. There is no doorman. You should ask for Monsieur Gavroche.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

“What happened to our original elephant, Flora? The Miami Metro Zoo had to finally come to accept the hard truth. As the rider who Flora attacked in 1999 explained: “I just think elephants are not meant to be captive. As they mature, they get to a point where they aren’t going to take it any more. It’s not her fault, she’s just becoming more and more unhappy.”
― Jason Hribal, Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance

“The elephant in the room during the media coverage of the hurricane Ian disaster was the lack of reporting of the number of people reported missing to law enforcement.”
― Steven Magee

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

“For some reason, she wanted to be with the animals more than the people. She couldn't describe how she felt about the animals or why she had such a strong need to see them, because she didn't understand it herself. But it was one of the reasons she was brave enough to venture out for the first time on her own. Maybe she was drawn to them because they understood what it was like to be locked up, with no control over what happened next. Maybe it was because her cat was the only one who had never let her down. Or maybe her love of animals was part of who she was, like the way her left foot turned in slightly, the way her fingers were long and thin, and the way her skin was white as snow. Whatever the cause, seeing the baby elephant and the other animals was the only thing she cared about right now.”
― Ellen Marie Wiseman, The Life She Was Given

“The only thing between Lilly and the elephant was a rope, hanging across the front of the two-sided stall. A heavy chain wrapped around the elephant's back ankle, then attached to a thick stake in the ground. Looking up at the powerful beast, the walled-in feeling of being locked in her room returned, and the heavy, horrible ache of missing home. The sensations were so strong they nearly brought her to her knees. It was almost as if she could feel the elephant's misery, like she had with the lion, except this time, there was something else too, something that felt like tenderness. Was it possible that this powerful animal cared about people, even after everything they had done to it, even after they had caged it, tied it in ropes and chains, and forced it to perform? Lilly's eyes grew moist. More than anything, she wanted to go into the stall and comfort the elephant, to stroke its head and explain she understood what it felt like to be held prisoner, and to still love someone who hurt you. But she didn't dare.”
― Ellen Marie Wiseman, The Life She Was Given

“So one elephant having a trunk was odd; but all elephants having trunks looked like a plot.”
― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

“One does not need to look too deeply into the transcripts of witch trials before uncovering tortured women speaking of cavorting with everyday animals. (There does seem to be a size limit; one can converse with a devil in the form of a dog, but not a moose and surely not an elephant.)”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Even when the elephant leaves the room, there is a massive amount of dung.”
― Wyatt Pringle Jr

“I am being quite reasonable, Mister Cotton, I assure you,’ Charlie said, unable to keep himself from grinning. ‘Mary is accustomed to us. She is more than an elephant, she is a pet, a friend, and a companion. I wouldn’t trust an elephant I don’t know to Barnum and Bailey, let alone a pet, friend, and companion. I’m fully aware of your employers’ liberal use of bull hooks in training. The conditions in which those elephants are crammed together, night after night. Out of love for Mary, I say unreservedly no. I am also aware of the business practices of your employers and know full well the extent of their philanthropic nature. You wouldn’t have turned up here, all false charm and sleazy grin, waving an envelope of cash around, if you didn’t already know Mary was worth a hundred times the value. So, don’t threaten my elephants, firstly, Mister Cotton. And secondly, dare not to insult my intelligence, in my own office. For God’s sake, man.”
― Max Davine, Mighty Mary

“Now, the mere repetition made the things to me rather more weird than more rational. It was as if, having seen a curiously shaped nose in the street and dismissed it as an accident, I had then seen six other noses of the same astonishing shape. I should have fancied for a moment that it must be some local secret society. So one elephant having a trunk was odd; but all elephants having trunks looked like a plot.”
― G. K. Chesterton, ORTHODOXY