Bird Quotes - Page 30

• While I am compassed round With mirth, my soul lies hid in shades of grief, Whence, like the bird of night, with half-shut eyes, She peeps, and sickens at the sight of day.

  John Dryden

  Lying, Grief, Eye

  John Dryden (1701). “The Comedies, Tragedies, and Operas....: Now First Collected Together, and Corrected from the Roginals”, p.86

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• Old age is
  a flight of small
  cheeping birds
  skimming
  bare trees
  above a snow glaze.
  Gaining and failing
  they are buffeted
  by a dark wind -
  But what?
  On harsh weedstalks
  the flock has rested -
  the snow
  is covered
  with broken
  seed husks
  and the wind tempered
  with a shrill
  piping of plenty.

  William Carlos Williams

  Dark, Wind, Snow

  "To Awaken an Old Lady". The Dial, August 1920.

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• A novel it's different. It's kind of exhilarating not to have to cut to the bone constantly. Oh, well I can go over here for a moment. I can say what I think the guy was thinking or what the day looked like or what the bird was doing. If you do that as a playwright, you're dead.

  David Mamet

  Cutting, Thinking, Guy

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• A bird in the hand may be worth two in the bush, but remember also that a bird in the hand is a positive embarrassment to one not in the poultry business.

  George Ade

  Hands, Two, May

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• The saddest birds a season find to sing,The roughest storm a calm may soon allay;Thus with succeeding turns God tempereth all,That men may hope to rise yet fear to fall.

  Robert Southwell

  Fall, Men, Storm

  Saint Robert Southwell (1856). “The poetical works of the Rev. Robert Southwell”, p.47

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• I avoid the carwash when I think it might rain anytime in the near future, which means I drive around the majority of the time in a pollen and bird poop covered car. This presents a stand off between Neat Freakshow and Practical Pennypincher, and Neat Freak usually triumphs. And then it rains.

  Kristin Armstrong

  Rain, Mean, Thinking

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• As we take, in fact, a general view of the wonderful stream of our consciousness, what strikes us first is this different pace of its parts. Like a bird 's life, it seems to be made of an alternation of flights and perchings.

  William James

  Views, Different, Pace

  William James (2012). “The Principles of Psychology”, p.243, Courier Corporation

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• There in the windy flood of morning Longing lifted its weight from me, Lost as a sob in the midst of cheering, Swept as a sea-bird out to sea.

  Sara Teasdale

  Morning, Cheer, Sea

  Sara Teasdale (1915). “Rivers to the Sea”

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• As a human being it is just my nature to enjoy and share philosophy. I do this in the same way that some birds are eagles and some doves, some flowers lilies and some roses.

  Alan Watts

  Philosophy, Flower, Eagles

  Alan Watts (2011). “The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are”, p.18, Souvenir Press

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• These false answers such as, I am stone, I am bird, I am animal, I am man, I am woman, I am great, I am small are, in turn, received, tested and discarded until the Question arrives at the right and Final Answer, I AM GOD.

  Meher Baba

  Animal, Men, Finals

  Meher Baba (1969). “The Advancing Stream of Life: Its Mystery, Meaning & Purpose”

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• You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,You are soft as the nesting dove.Come to my heart and bring it restAs the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

  Paul Laurence Dunbar

  Sweet, Love You, Home

  Paul Laurence Dunbar, “Invitation To Love”

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• What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal black Women from whose loins I sprang When the birds of Eden sang?

  Countee Cullen

  Strong, Stars, Men

  1925 On These I Stand,'Heritage'.

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• It is common talk that every individual is entitled to economic security. The only animals and birds I know that have economic security are those that have been domesticated--and the economic security they have is controlled by the barbed-wire fence, the butcher's knife and the desire of others. They are milked, skinned, egged or eaten up by their protectors.

  Ray Lyman Wilbur

  Animal, Knives, Desire

  "Ray Lyman Wilbur". The Washington Post, June 28, 1949.

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• The flesh is sweeter, where the creature has some chance for its life; for that reason, I always use a single ball, even if it be at a bird or a squirrel; besides, it saves lead, for, when a body knows how to shoot, one piece of lead is enough for all, except hard-lived animals.

  James F. Cooper

  Hunting, Animal, Squirrels

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• Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings And some are treasured for their markings - They cause the eyes to melt Or the body to shriek without pain.

  Craig Raine

  Pain, Eye, Wings

  Craig Raine (2016). “My Grandmother's Glass Eye: A Look at Poetry”, p.155, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• I like happy things, I'm really calm and peaceful. I like birds, bees, I like people. I like funny things that make me happy and gleeful... like when my teacher sucked my wee-wee in pre-school!

  Eminem

  Teacher, School, Funny Things

  "Song: 'I'm Shady'". 1999.

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• We can love religion as we need rituals, but The Holy Spirit is a bird, free to fly and land where it likes. We don't actually need 'religion' in order to have a relationship with The Holy Spirit. Too many wars an violence over religion.We need to see it's all the same spirit and we are part of that spirit so we shouldn't be fighting over what name we call it. It's a free bird.

  Sinead O'Connor

  War, Fighting, Order

  "Sinead O'Connor on Pope Benedict and Catholic abuse scandal". Live chat, www.washingtonpost.com. March 26, 2010.

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• I'd fly. I sit and watch the birds go by and say, I wish I could do that.

  Kristin Kreuk

  Wish, Watches

  "25 Hottest Stars Under 25". Teen People, 2002.

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• These are just the rules and regulations Of the birds, and the bees The earth, and the trees, Not to mention the gods, not to mention the gods.

  Rufus Wainwright

  Tree, Rules And Regulations, Earth

  Song: Rules and Regulations, 2007

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• Dwelling beside a body of water is tonic for the weary psyche. Sea smells, sea birds, seawrack, sands - alternately cool, warm, moist and dry - a taste of brine and the presence of the rocking, slopping bluegraygreen spit-flecked waters, has the effect of rinsing the emotions, bathing the outlook, bleaching the conscience.

  Roger Zelazny

  Sea, Smell, Dwelling

  Roger Zelazny (2001). “Isle of the Dead ; Eye of Cat”, Ibooks

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• We lived in places that we never knew. We could not name the birds perched on our sill, Or see the trees we cut down for our view. What we possessed we always chose to kill. "We claimed the earth but did not hear her claim, And when we died, they laid us on her breast, But she refuses us until we earn Forgiveness from the lives we dispossessed.

  Dana Gioia

  Cutting, Views, Names

  Dana Gioia (2016). “99 Poems: New & Selected”, p.49, Macmillan

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• The bluebird is well named, for he wears a coat of the purest, richest, and most gorgeous blue on back, wings, and tail; no North American bird better deserves the name, for no other flashes before our admiring eyes so much brilliant blue.

  Arthur Cleveland Bent

  Eye, Blue, Names

  Arthur Cleveland Bent (1949). “Life histories of North American thrushes, kinglets, and their allies: order Passeriformes”

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• The perfume of the flowers and of the bay tree are wafted on high, like incense. The birds sing sweet songs of praise to their Creator. In the tops of the trees, the soughing of the wind is like the hushed prayers of the multitude in some vast cathedral. Here the heart of man becomes impressionable.

  William Wendt

  Song, Sweet, Prayer

  John Alan Walker, William Wendt (1992). “Documents on the Life and Art of William Wendt, 1865-1946, California's Painter Laureate of the Paysage Moralisé”

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• Nature with her wealth of birds and flowers, Has in her heart a place for every weed; For her quick eyes require no microscope To note the varied wonders and delights That the Creator's humblest works possess.

  Kobo Abe

  Weed, Nature, Flower

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• Tell me why the caged bird nutters against its prison bars, and I will tell you why the soul sickens of earthliness. The bird has wings, and wings were made to cleave the air, and soar in freedom in the sun. The soul is immortal it cannot feed upon husks.

  Randolph Sinks Foster

  Air, Wings, Soul

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