Swan Quotes

“There's no need to curse God if you're an ugly duckling. He chooses those strong enough to endure it so that they can guide others who've felt the same.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.”
― Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling

“True beauty is measured by the number of pearls within you, not those around your neck.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Every lake belongs to the quietness desired by the swans.”
― Munia Khan

“Tell me where the swans go in the winter
I need to know if the mute ones can sing.

Tell me why stars fall from the sky
I need to know if it is luck they bring.

Tell me why feathers land near you
I need to know if you've injured your wing.

Now, tell me where you end, my angel
For I no longer know where I begin.”
― Kamand Kojouri

“I'm telling you, the gorgeous of the world can actually look pretty intimidating when they scowl. Imagine a snow-white swan with a scary tattoo holding a chain saw. There's just no way to really prepare for that.”
― Jim Benton, Okay, So Maybe I Do Have Superpowers

“I've developed into quite a swan. I'm one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older - until I drop dead of beauty.”
― Rufus Wainwright

“If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it could be a really ugly swan.”
― Timmothy Radman

“No doubt, few people understand either the purely subjective nature of the phenomenon of love, or how it creates a supplementary person who is quite different from the one who bears our beloved’s name in the outside world, and is mostly formed from elements within ourselves. So there are few who see anything natural in the disproportionate dimensions which we come to perceive in a person who is not the same as the one they see.”
― Marcel Proust

“Every morning
before the birds start
trilling me their stories,
I give birth to a new love
through my same old heart
when a lake’s placidity
finds life in the swans breath
Only for you...

From the poem 'Only For You”
― Munia Khan, To Evince the Blue

“I have a message for your daughter,” said Cale. “I am bound to her with cables that not even God can break. One day, if there is a soft breeze on her cheek, it may be my breath; one night, if the cool wind plays with her hair, it may be my shadow passing by.”
And with this terrible threat he faced forward and the procession started once more. In less than a minute they were gone. In her shady room Arbell Swan-Neck stood white and cold as alabaster.”
― Paul Hoffman, The Left Hand of God

“Look upon men and things with the inner eye, with its form and desire, never forgetting that the shadow they throw as they pass by, upon hillock or wall, is but the fleeting image of a mightier shadow, which, like the wing of an imperishable swan, floats over every soul that draws near to their soul. Do not believe that thoughts such as these can be mere ornaments, and without influence upon the lives of those who admit them. It is far more important that one’s life should be perceived than that it should be transformed; for no sooner has it been perceived, than it transforms itself of its own accord.”
― Maurice Maeterlinck

“I think I’ll call you Cygnus,” Chelsea said.
“The swan?” I said. A bit precious, but it could have been worse.
She shook her head. “Black hole. Cygnus X-1.”
― Peter Watts, Blindsight

“If you can add a great beauty to something which is already beautiful, then you must be very beautiful like a white swan adding beauty to a misty lake!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Wie rau der Morgen war. So weiß, so kühl gegen das sanfte Violett der Nacht; so harsch und bloß nach den reich gekleideten Träumen. So unnachsichtig klar, wie Glassplitter auf der nackten Haut, wenn sie noch weich und verwundbar war unter den Laken. So herzzerreißend licht, wenn man sterben musste.”
― Lilach Mer, Der siebte Schwan

“You can watch a swan catch a fish and have no sadness. You may understand that this expression of you has died so that this other expression of you may live. There is balance and acceptance. Every moment of life is lived with an intensity and presence that is reverential.”
― Elizabeth Eiler, Swift and Brave: Sacred Souls of Animals

“The river is such a tranquil place, a place to sit and think of romance and the beauty of nature, to enjoy the elegance of swans and the chance of a glimpse of a kingfisher.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“All art is the result of one’s having been in danger of having gone through an experience all the way to the end when no one can go any further. This is what it is like to be an artist – you are unsteady on the edge of life like a swan before an anxious launching of himself on the floods where he is gently caught.”
― Edmund de Waal

“They have special laws for pretty girls twenty-one."
"So you think I was pretty?"
He nodded good-humoredly.
"But how can you tell?" she asked. "When you meet a dragon that has eaten a swan, do you guess by the few feathers left around the mouth? That's what it is- a body like this is a dragon, all scales and folds. So the dragon ate the white swan. I haven't seen her for years. I can't even remember what she looks like. I feel her, though. She's safe inside, still alive; the essential swan hasn't changed a feather. Do you know, there are some mornings in spring or fall, when I wake and think, I'll run across the fields into the woods and pick wild strawberries! Or I'll swim in the lake, or I'll dance all night tonight until dawn! And then, in a rage, discover I'm in this old and ruined dragon. I'm the princess in the crumbled tower, no way out, waiting for her Prince Charming.”
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

“But don't you remember what happened at Eversby Priory, when a goose built her nest in the swan's territory? She thought she was enough like them that they wouldn't mind her. Only her neck was too short, and her legs were too long, and she didn't have the right sort of feathers, so the swans kept attacking and chasing the poor thing until finally she was driven off."
"You're not a goose."
Pandora's mouth twisted. "I'm an awfully deficient swan, then.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Devil in Spring

“A swan looking at the world from a misty calm lake is like a creature looking at the world from space! All he sees is a large herd of people governed by the most stupid and most inadequate people!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“A Blackberry Winter by Stewart Stafford

Pond ice beneath the hawthorn tree,
Reeds grasping from the frigid sculpture,
Freezing fog clinging to land and foliage,
Nature hindered but still in amelioration.

Horses in crunching frosted footsteps march,
To break the water trough's thick glaze,
And drink thirstily in raw, jagged gulps,
Until the thaw smoothes itself upon milder days.

A swan slips and skates on the icicled river,
Hoarfrost-encrusted rocks a guard of honour,
The Anatidae ascension, maladroit but effective,
Sure to pluck better days from its plumed reign.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“كنتُ كالطائر المذبوح وهو يرفرف بجناحيه مؤدياً رقصة الموت، كنتُ أخطو بقدمي على جراحاتي وآلامي كرقصة البجعة الأخيرة وهي تبكي حياتها في هدوء ملكي وتبتهج للقاء الإله أبولو.”
― جلجامش نبيل, Gilgamesh Nabeel, صراع الأقنعة

“Soft white billowed about the surface, blowing gently against the windowsill in remembrance of the enigmatic swan’s graceful flight. Or so it reminded me, alluringly tranquil in its flicker of light and form, but not quite translucent. Not quite here.”
― Gina Marinello-Sweeney, Peter

“Dit is alles wat wij weten: moeder en zoon
herenigd - je ziet in je gedachten hoe een witte zwaan
wordt gewiegd door een vijver en je vraagt:
zou die vogel de rouw kennen van het water
en zou het water weten wie het wiegt.”
― Rutger Kopland, Verzamelde gedichten

“My very first necklace, from my grandmother, had a swan pendant. Now, as an adult, I do still wear a swan pendant and it's my favourite one. I have been on dates wearing it and always get the same comment: "Did you know that swans may look graceful and elegant but they can break your arms with their wings?" They always say it like it's a bad thing. I think it's one of the most fantastic things in nature!”
― C. JoyBell C.

“I prefer to be a swan and have one mate for life.”
― Steven Magee

“It's a new direction for you, though, isn't it? Menacing waterfowl?"
"I think I prefer the kittens," Harry said. He'd been silent until then.
"You dislike moody animals, even if they're beautiful, Harry?" Genevieve teased.
"I dislike believing things are one way when they're really another way entirely."
And if that wasn't an innuendo, Genevieve didn't know what one was.
She just didn't know if he was referring to his own heart, or to 'her', in general.
But that could very well be her conscience interpreting it.
She sighed. She felt a certain kinship with that swan. Everyone thought Genevieve Eversea was serenity and purity itself. When she really was capable of... alarmingly original behavior.”
― Julie Anne Long, What I Did for a Duke

“Remember you, too, are a beautiful swan.”
― Jackie Cantoni, ARE YOU READY? A GUIDE TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF YOU: A Self-Help Book for Becoming Your Best Self

“On their lonesome, even swans (sometimes) can be.”
― Lana M. Rochel, Looking For Your Tribe: Intellectual Poems