Owl Quotes and Sayings

I’m fascinated with owls. I didn’t grow up with them, but they’ve become a treasured group of birds to me since reading about them and watching them on videos. Snowy owls are my favorite. They are majestic, magical, and mysterious.
I grew up in the Caribbean on the island of Antigua, one of the group of islands in the Caribbean Sea that lies between North and South America. I have learned that there are approximately 20 species of owls (not on my island) in the Caribbean. The now extinct Ornimeglonyx was a giant (believed to be the largest owl that ever existed) flightless or sometimes flightless owl that lived on the island of Cuba.
If you are as captivated with owls as I am, you’ll enjoy the quotes listed below, starting with one of my favorites:

A wise old owl sat in an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can’t we be like that wise old bird?
Edward Hersey Richards

Wikipedia shares 3 different versions of this English Nursery Rhyme:
A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?

This version was first published in Punch, April 10, 1875, and ran as follows:
There was an owl liv’d in an oak
The more he heard, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
O, if men were all like that wise bird.

One version was published upon bookmarks during the mid-1930s, and goes as follows:
A wise old owl lived in an oak,
The more he saw, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard,
Now, wasn’t he a wise old bird?
During World War II, the United States army used the rhyme on a poster with the tweaked ending, “Soldier…. be like that old bird!” with the caption “Silence means security

By US Government Public Domain

 

Owl hasn’t exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things. —A. A. Milne

Owl is the grand and rather clever old man of the forest. He can also spell Tuesday. ― A. A. Milne

Women have in their natures something akin to owls and fireflies. While men grow stupid and sleepy towards evening, they become brighter and more open-eyed, and show a propensity to flit and sparkle under the light of chandeliers. ― Abba Louisa Goold Woolson

She wants to be flowers, but you make her owls. You must not complain, then, if she goes hunting. – Alan Garner

I am brother to dragons, and companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. – Alan Moore

 

Getting up too early is a vice habitual in horned owls, stars, geese, and freight trains. Some hunters acquire it from geese, and some coffee pots from hunters. – Aldo Leopold

Alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits. ― Alfred, Lord Tennyson

At home, I love reaching out into that absolute silence, when you can hear the owl or the wind. – Amanda Harlech

The owl is nocturnal with keen senses of sight and sound. It sees through the shadows of the night and hears the sounds in the silense; the illusion of the darkness. This teaches us to see past our own illusions and trust our intuition and perceptive senses. ― Anonymous

Opportunities are like night owls. They like to streak naked and howl at the moon. A lot of success in life comes down to luck. So, put yourself in a position to get lucky. Because you know what happens if you don’t go out? Nothing. –  Ari Gold

Some men pray only when the world is dark, as owls hoot at night. – Austin O’Malley

I often have deer on my property and there’s a fox and owls. You’re not going to see that in the city. – Billy Corgan

I’ve seen the elephant, heard the owl and flown the screaming eagle. — Bob Lemon

Those who drink whiskey with the owls at night, cannot soar with the eagles the next day. – Brian D. Ratty

I’ve got everything I need: a nice piece of land with hawks and owls and incredible sunsets, and the good will of my neighbors. – Burt Shavitz

The rugs that I picked out and the pillows with the little owls, sort of like whimsical throw pillows – I feel like you can never have enough whimsical throw pillows in your house, in your life. My husband probably disagrees. – Busy Philipps

When the owl sings, the night is silent. — Charles de Leusse

We tried to talk about [the Owls’ zone], but it’s hard to replicate it. It’s nearly impossible to penetrate that zone. What you do get are open outside shots. You’re going to have to make some of them. – Chris Mooney

An owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees the less it talks. ― Christie Watson

I’m a bit of a night owl because that’s when I feel the most creative and alive. – Christina Aguilera

I live in Topanga Canyon, which is like a faux-rustic enclave in Los Angeles. I love the sounds of all the critters outside – the frogs, owls, crickets, and birds. Some of the birds around here are pretty accomplished musicians. You can learn a lot from them. – Cliff Martinez

If there are no nightingales, one must settle for owls. ― Danish Proverb

If this were a made-up story, it would begin at night, with a storm blowing and owls hooting and rattling noises under the bed. Darren Shan

Words should wander and meander. They should fly like owls and flicker like bats and slip like cats. They should murmur and scream and dance and sing. – David Almond

They’re doing everything they can to tighten security at the White House. Today, on the roof of the White House, they added one of those fake owls. – David Letterman

The wailing owl screams solitary to the mournful moon. – David Mallet

We were restless for ages…After a while I heard an owl hooting and calmed myself by thinking of it flying over the dark fields and then I remembered it would be pouncing on mice. I love owls, but I wish God had made them vegetarian. ― Dodie Smith

There was an old man with a beard, who said: ‘It is just as I feared! Two owls and a hen, four larks and a wren have all built their nests in my beard. – Edward Lear

There’s always a hidden owl in knowledge. ― E.I. Jane

The large white owl that with eye is blind, that hath sate for years in the old tree hollow, is carried away in a gust of wind. — Elizabeth Barret

I mean, I have done scenes with animals, with owls, with bats, with cats, with special effects, with thespians, in the freezing cold, in the pouring rain, boiling hot; I’ve done press with every syndication, every country; I’ve done interviews with people dressed up as cows – there’s honestly nothing that’s gonna intimidate me! – Emma Watson

You know what I hate the most? People that imitate owls. – Emo Philips

A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl. – Ernest Hemingway

“Everything you say,’ Geno said rather irritably, ‘contradicts itself.’ ‘Of course, it does,’ the screech owl rejoined obscurely. ‘Otherwise, how would anyone ever keep to the middle of the road?” ― Felix Salten

Only the worm of conscience consorts with the owl. Sinners and evil spirits shun the light.” — Friedrich Schiller

Sometimes an owl is just an owl. — Mark Frost

I’m not very keen for doves or hawks. I think we need more owls. – George Aiken

You are Mr. Owl. I am Ms. Hummingbird. We may became from different species but as long as you’re a bird, I’m a bird too. – Glad Munaiseche

The owl, that bird of onomatopoetic name, is a repetitious question wrapped in feathery insulation especially for Winter delivery. ― Hal Borland

If we cannot sing of faith and triumph, we will sing our despair. We will be that kind of bird. There are day owls, and there are night owls, and each is beautiful and even musical while about its business. ― Henry David Thoreau

You can’t hoot with the owls and then soar with the eagles. – Hubert H. Humphrey

The owls are not what they seem. —Alexis Novak

Light itself is a great corrective. A thousand wrongs and abuses that are grown in darkness disappear, like owls and bats, before the light of day. – James A. Garfield

Don’t, Ginny, we’ll send you loads of owls. We’ll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat. George! Only joking, Mum. – J. K. Rowling

Don’t count your owls before they are delivered. – J. K. Rowling

I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs By the known rules of ancient liberty, When straight a barbarous noise environs me Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes and dogs. – John Milton

“You don’t need people’s opinion on a fact,” Oliver said. “You might as well have a poll asking: ‘Which number is bigger, 15 or 5?’ or ‘Do owls exist?’ or ‘Are there hats?’” – John Oliver

Do you think I was born in a wood to be afraid of an owl? —Jonathan Swift

Owls hoot in B flat, cuckoos in D, but the water ousel sings in the voice of the stream. She builds her nest back of the waterfalls, so the water is a lullaby to the little ones. Must be where they learn it. – Karen Joy Fowler

I’m a night owl for sure. I was born at 1 A.M., and that’s the excuse I use. —Karla Souza

To find one’s special quality One must lead a life of deep humility. To serve in this way Never question but obey Is the blessing of St Aggie’s charity. –  Kathryn Lasky

Far away if first black, But it shall be back Over field Over flower In the twilight hour. We are home in our tree. We are owls, we are free. As we go, this we know Glaux is nigh. ―Kathryn Lasky

People say the darkness is where secrets are best hidden. Nighttime brings clarity and focus to owls, even if the aperture of this vision comes with a stigma. – Kimberly Morgan

Advice from an owl: stay focused, be whoo you are, trust in a wise friend, live off the land, glide through the dark times, be observant, because life’s a hoot! ― Ilan Shamir

Little Night’ has layers of meaning. There’s something enchanted about night. All those heavenly bodies, shooting stars, the crescent moon, celestial phenomenon. Owls fly at night, and first kisses happen. Night is romantic. Alternately, darkness hides the worst of human behavior. – Luanne Rice

The truth is, we [women] live like bats, or owls, labor like beasts, and die like worms. – Margaret Cavendish

First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I’m a night owl. — Marion Barry

I plead alignment to the flakes of the untitled snakes of a merry cow and to the republicrats for which they scam: one nacho, underpants with licorice and jugs of wine for owls. ― Matt Groening

To be honest, owls aren’t the brightest of birds, amazing as they are; parrots and crows are much smarter. It’s all in the eyes: those magnificent piercing optics are what make all owls look like they are deep in concentrated scrutiny and steeped in long-lost knowledge. ― Matt Sewell

Owls are known as lonely birds; but it is not known that they have the forest as their best friend! — Mehmet Murat Ildan

The inauspiciousness of the owl is nothing but the inauspiciousness of the man who thinks that owl is inauspicious! ― Mehmet Murat ildan

Animals like crows, owls or black cats are not ominous at all; it is the men’s superstitious mind which is the inauspicious one! – Mehmet Murat ildan

I am both a night owl and an early bird. So I am wise and I have worms. — Michael Scott

It’s the little details I love. How to fletch your arrows with owl feathers, because owls fly silently, so maybe your arrows will, too. How to carry fire in a piece of smouldering fungus wrapped in birchbark. These are the things which help a world come alive. – Michelle Paver

“The owl,” he was saying, “is one of the most curious creatures. A bird that stays awake when the rest of the world sleeps. – M.J. Rose

Do not trap yourself into an owl’s hooting sound where sad nights linger through the blackness of a hound ― Munia Khan

Owls are wise. They are careful and patient. Wisdom precludes boldness. That is why owls make poor heroes. – Patrick Rothfuss

The owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride. — Proverb

If we call the young ones, say 10 to 30 years old, ‘siblings,’ we can see they tend to be naturally ecological. They regard whales and owls as siblings too. That’s a great advance. – Robert Bly

I think the shocking thing to discover is the owls are not stupid and very feral, very hard to train. – Robbie Coltrane

My friends call me an owl. Apparently, it’s a combination of being wise and having big eyes. – Romy Madley Croft

If we don’t preserve forest habitat for spotted owls, then soon we won’t have trees to refresh the air we breathe. And we’re realizing that this applies to social ecology, as well. – Sam Keen

“Beware The Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they’ll send the Talon for your head. – Scott Snyder

A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d. — William Shakespeare

If you are unwilling to defend your right to your own lives, then you are merely like mice trying to argue with owls. You think their ways are wrong. They think you are dinner. – Terry Goodkind

Perhaps he does not want to be friends with you until he knows what you are like. With owls, it is never easy-come-easy-go. ― T.H. White

The little owls call to each other with tremulous, quavering voices throughout the livelong night, as they sit in the creaking trees. – Theodore Roosevelt

I really liked the snake that breaks out of the cage in the beginning of the movie. I saw it in real life, and it was really cool. Really big and fat. The owls are cool as well, but you can’t really pet them. – Tom Felton

I have a Chamberlain I bought from some surfers in Westwood many years ago. It’s an early analog synthesizer; it operates on tape loops. It has 60 voices – everything from galloping horses to owls to rain to every instrument in the orchestra. – Tom Waits

“Top” management is supposed to be a tree full of owls-hooting when management heads into the wrong part of the forest. I’m still unpersuaded they even know where the forest is. – Robert Townsend

I had a dream we purchased an owl that sat there in silence and never did scowl — Unknown

Wisdom of Owl Is akin to Sages, books and knowledge reduce the brawl and add to ages. — Unknown

No owl is afraid of the night, no snake of the swamp and no traitor of the treason. —Unknown

Being human is exhausting. So be an owl. —Unknown

I like to think of myself as a wise owl that learns from the mistakes of people who listened to my advice. — Unknown

An owl is traditionally a symbol of wisdom, so we are neither doves nor hawks but owls, and we are vigilant when others are resting. – Urjit Patel

An owl is mostly air. ― Ursula K. Le Guin

The owl goes not into the nest of the lark. ― Victor Hugo

The crow wished everything was black, the owl, that everything was white.” —William Blake

“Where the bee sucks, there suck I: In a cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. -William Shakespeare

The thing about owls is that they do sort of have this facial disc, which is unlike any other bird. They kind of have a face, more than like a dog or a giraffe. They have this weird, alien face that you can actually make expressive. – Zack Snyder

It’s a wrap

I hope you enjoy these quotes and sayings, as much as I enjoyed putting them together. Share your favorite owl quote, owl saying or wise old saying below.

Resources

Brainy Quotes
Goodreads
PicMonkey
Pixabay
Quote Kind
Sayings Point
Spirit Animal
The Spruce Crafts
Unsplash
Wikipedia
Wise Old Sayings