Porpoises Quotes

• No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise.

  Lewis Carroll

  Sea, Fishing, Rivers

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• There is the life of the plankton in almost endless variety; there are the many kinds of fish, both surface and bottom living; there are the hosts of different invertebrate creatures on the sea-floor; and there are those almost grotesque forms of pelagic life in the oceans depths. Then there are the squids and cuttlefish, and the porpoises, dolphins and great whales.

  Alister Hardy

  Ocean, Whales, Sea

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• There is no thing that with a twist of the imagination cannot be something else. Porpoises risen in a green sea, the wind at nightfall bending the rose- red grasses and you- in your apron hurrying to catch- say it seems to you to be your son. How ridiculous! You will pass up into a cloud and look back at me, not count the scribbling foolish that put wings at your heels, at your knees.

  William Carlos Williams

  Son, Clouds, Wind

  William Carlos Williams, “Kora In Hell: Improvisations XXVII”

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• Will you walk a little faster? said a whiting to a snail, "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail! See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance: They are waiting on the shingle--will you come and join the dance?

  Lewis Carroll

  Turtles, Waiting, Lobster

  Lewis Carroll (2017). “Alice in Wonderland Collection: All Four Books: All Four Books”, p.55, Lulu.com

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• Our top story tonight: Famous TV dolphin flipper was arrested today on prostitution ring charges. He allegedly was seen transporting two 16 year olds across state line for immoral porpoises.

  Colin Mochrie

  Years, Two, Dolphins

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• and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin
  she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea
  she is the female tunny-fish, round and happy among the males
  and dense with happy blood, dark rainbow bliss in the sea.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Gay, Dark, Blood

  David Herbert Lawrence, “Whales Weep Not!”

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• The porpoises said hello to Molly. She told them all her teeth were green.

  Dave Barry

  Teeth, Green, Hello

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• …Then another porpoise broke the water and rolled toward us. A third and fourth porpoise neared. The visitation was something so rare and perfect that we knew by instinct not to speak—and then as quickly as they had come, the porpoises moved away from us…Each of us would remember that all during our lives. It was the purest moment of freedom and headlong exhilaration that I had ever felt. A wordless covenant was set, and I would go back in my imagination, and return to where happiness seemed so easy to touch.

  Pat Conroy

  Imagination, Perfect, Water

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• I've long suspected that one of the reasons why human beings haven't yet figured out how to carry on a conversation with bottlenosed porpoises, African gray parrots, et al. in their own language is quite simply that we're terrified of what they might say to us - not least because it's entirely possible that they'd be right.

  John Michael Greer

  Long, Might, Als

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• I see the regions of snow and ice, I see the sharp-eyed Samoiede and the Finn, I see the seal-seeker in his boat poising his lance, I see the Siberian on his slight-built sledge drawn by dogs, I see the porpoise-hunters, I see the whale-crews of the south Pacific and the north Atlantic, I see the cliffs, glaciers, torrents, valleys of Switzerland - I mark the long winters and the isolation.

  James Joyce

  Dog, Winter, Whales

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• Lord, Madame, I have fed like a farmer; I shall grow as fat as a porpoise.

  Jonathan Swift

  Eating, Lord, Feds

  Jonathan Swift (1741). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: Containing, I. His Miscellanies in prose. II. His poetical writings. III. The travels of Capt. Lemuel Gulliver. IV. Papers relating to Ireland, and The Drapier's letters. V. The conduct of the allies, and The examiners. VI. The publick spirit of the Whiggs, &c. with Polite conversation. VII. Letters to and from Dr. Swift. VIII. Directions to servants, sermons, poems, &c”, p.326

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• He did not like the grown-ups who talked down to him, but the ones who went on talking in their usual way, leaving him to leap along in their wake, jumping at meanings, guessing, clutching at known words, and chuckling at complicated jokes as they suddenly dawned. He had the glee of the porpoise then, pouring and leaping through strange seas.

  T. H. White

  Sea, Jumping, Talking

  T. H. White (2011). “The Once and Future King”, p.39, Penguin

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• There is more difference between a zebra and a horse, or between a dolphin and a porpoise, than there is between you and the furry creatures your distant ancestors left behind when they set out to take over the world.

  Bill Bryson

  Horse, Zebras, Differences

  Bill Bryson (2014). “A Short History of Nearly Everything”, p.412, Lulu Press, Inc

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• Forelimbs of people, porpoises, bats and horses provide the classic example of homology in most textbooks. They look different, and do different things, but are built of the same bones. No engineer, starting from scratch each time, would have built such disparate structures from the same parts.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Horse, Time, People

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• Love is most nearly itself
  When here and now cease to matter.
  Old men ought to be explorers
  Here or there does not matter
  We must be still and still moving
  Into another intensity
  For a further union, a deeper communion
  Through the dark cold and the empty desolation,
  The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters
  Of the petrel and the porpoise.

  T. S. Eliot

  Life, Moving, Dark

  T.S. Eliot (2016). “Cuatro cuartetos: Precedido por La roca y Asesinato en la Catedral”, p.99, LUMEN

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• What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the same pattern?

  Charles Darwin

  Horse, Men, Hands

  Charles Darwin (1872). “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life”, p.441

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• Leo scratched his head. “Well I dunno about Enchiladas-“ “Enceladus,” Piper corrected. “Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?” “Porphyrion?” Piper asked. ”He was the giant king, I think.

  Rick Riordan

  Kings, Thinking, Names

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• On this day there was soon wind enough and to spare. The same might have been said of the sea. The Spray was in the midst of the turbulent Gulf Stream itself. She was jumping like a porpoise over the uneasy waves

  Joshua Slocum

  Jumping, Wind, Sea

  Joshua Slocum (2015). “Sailing Alone Around the World”, p.176, Booklassic

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