110 Owl Quotes That Will Show You How Wise They Are

And make sure to read these and too.

1. “There’s always a hidden owl in knowledge.” – E.I. Jane

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

3. “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 silence; the illusion of the darkness. This teaches us to see past our own illusions and trust our intuition and perceptive senses.” – Anonymous

4. “Owl is the grand and rather clever old man of the forest. He can also spell ‘Tuesday.’” – A. A. Milne

5. “Do not trap yourself into an owl’s hooting sound where sad nights linger through the blackness of a hound.” – Munia Khan

6. “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

7. “If there are no nightingales, one must settle for owls.” – Danish Proverb

8. “The inauspiciousness of the owl is nothing but the inauspiciousness of the man who thinks that owl is inauspicious!” – Mehmet Murat İldan

9. “The large, white owl whose eye is blind, that hath sat for years in the old tree hollow, is carried away in a gust of wind.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

10. “People say the darkness is where secrets are best hidden. Night time brings clarity and focus to owls—even if the aperture of this vision comes with a stigma.” – Kimberly Morgan

11. “‘Owl,’ said Rabbit shortly, ‘you and I have brains. The others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this Forest—and when I say thinking, I mean thinking—you and I must do it.’” – A.A. Milne

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

13. “Why can’t we be like that wise old owl in the tree? Speech must die to serve that which is spoken.” – Paul Ricoeur

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

15. “The owls are not what they seem.” – Alexis Novak

16. “Thou ominous and fearful owl of death.” – William Shakespeare

17. “Have you ever stared into the owl’s eyes? They blink slowly, then burn: burn gold in the dark inner core of the snow-shrouded cedar.” – Robert Penn Warren

18. “The night to the owl and morn to the lark less welcome.” – William Shakespeare

19. “You don’t need anything but hope. The kind of hope that flies on silent wings under a shining owl moon.” – Jane Yolen

20. “Alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson

21. “The screech-owl, with ill-boding cry, portends strange things, old women say; stops every fool that passes by, and frights the school-boy from his play.” – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

22. “The owl—that bird of onomatopoeic name—is a repetitious question wrapped in feathery insulation especially for Winter delivery.” – Hal Borland

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

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

25. “The owl goes not into the nest of the lark.” – Victor Hugo

26. “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

27. “The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders at our quaint spirits.” – William Shakespeare

28. “The crow wished everything was black; the owl, that everything was white.” – William Blake

29. “The owl by day, if he arises, is mocked and wondered at.” – William Shakespeare

30. “An owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees, the less it talks.” – Christie Watson

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

32. “Advice from an owl—stay focused, be who 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

33. “Wisdom of owls is akin to sages, books, and knowledge reduces the brawl and adds to ages.” – Anonymous

34. , and no traitor of treason.” – Mehmet Murat İldan

35. “The owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride.” – Proverb

36. “Sometimes, an owl is just an owl.” – Mark Frost

37. “Observe and reflect, and become a little wiser every day.” – Anonymous

38. “I like to think of myself as a wise owl that learns from the mistakes of people who listened to my advice.” – Anonymous

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

40. “We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the , and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit.” – Tom Brown, Jr.

41. “The owls are gathering; find out why soon.” – J. K. Rowling

42. “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

43. “A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.” –

44. “Some kinds of animals burrow in the ground; others do not. Some animals are nocturnal, as the owl and the bat; others use the hours of daylight. There are and wild animals. Man and are invariably wild, and others, as the elephant, are easily tamed.” – Aristotle

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

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

47. “The bat that flits at close of eve has left the brain that won’t believe. The owl that calls upon the night speaks the unbeliever’s fright.” – William Blake

48. “I’m an owl; I’m up. I probably go to sleep during the time when most people wake up. The first half of the day, you might not catch me.” – Jeremih

49. “An owl sound wandered along the road with me. I didn’t hear it—I breathed it into my ears.” – William Stafford

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

51. “Why should I copy this owl, this sea urchin? Why should I try to imitate nature? I might just as well try to trace a perfect circle.” –

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

53. “The owl is one of the most curious creatures—a bird that stays awake when the rest of the world sleeps. They can see in the dark. I find that so interesting, to be mired in reality when the rest of the world is dreaming. What does he see and what does he know that the rest of the world is missing?” – M.J. Rose

54. “The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.” – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

55. “In the enemy’s territory, be as silent as the owl’s wings; in friend’s territory, be as cheerful as the nightingale’s songs.” – Mehmet Murat İldan

56. “The owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat. They took some honey, and plenty of money, wrapped up in a five pound note.” – Edward Lear

57. “She is our moon—our tidal pull. She is the rich deep beneath the sea, the buried treasure, the expression in the owl’s eye, the perfume in the wild rose. She is what the water says when it moves.” – Patricia A. McKillip

58. “Midnight is another planet! When the clock strikes twelve and if you are asleep, wake up, friend, and discover the beauties of this new planet—discover the silence; discover the tranquillity; speak to the owls, speak to the moon; greet the hedgehogs and disappear in the midst of the mists!” – Mehmet Murat İldan

59. “I have learned that one of the most important rules in politics is poise—which means looking like an owl after you have behaved like a jackass.” –

60. “Owls are known as lonely birds; but it is not known that they have the forest as their best friend!” – Mehmet Murat İldan

61. “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

62. “Owl hasn’t exactly got brain, but he knows things.” – A. A. Milne

63. “Do you think I was born in a wood to be afraid of an owl?” – Jonathan Swift

64. “In their previous lives, poets were bats, and thinkers were owls.” – Michael Bassey Johnson

65. “Being human is exhausting, so be an owl.” – Anonymous

66. “When the owl sings, the night is silent.” – Charles de Leusse

67. “A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d.” – William Shakespeare

68. “It is odd that we have so little relationship with nature, with and the owl that hoots among the hills calling for its mate. We never seem to have a feeling for all living things on the earth.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

69. “Those who drink whiskey with the owls at night, the next day.” – Brian D. Ratty

70. “I used to think I was a night owl. I realized I’m not, because I have energy at night, but I’m not as focused and productive when I try to get things done.” – Caroline Ghosn

71. “I’m a night owl, and luckily my profession supports that. The best ideas come to me in the dead of night.” – Josh Fox

72. “I’m the worst night owl, because I’m a self-loathing night owl who thinks, ‘No, I should be getting up early.’ It feels unproductive. I must get over that.” – Ronny Chieng

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

74. “I’m a night owl; I could work until 6 in the morning without even thinking about it.” – Julie Plec

75. “I love filming at night. I’m like a night owl.” – Noah Schnapp

76. “I am both a night owl and an early bird. So I am wise and I have worms.” –

77. “I generally stay with a chapter until I am satisfied, do very little rewriting, and if a scene is going well, I’ve been known to keep night owl hours.” – Sharon Kay Penman

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

79. “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

80. “I’m a bit of a night owl, I’m always visiting the gym throughout the night.” – Jimi Manuwa

81. “I’ve always been a night owl.” – Blake Lively

82. “I write in the mornings or afternoons—I’m not a night owl and can write for only four or five hours maximum.” – Sarah Hall

83. “Being a nocturnal creature myself, I often find myself in dark alleys or strange places late at night. If there were werewolves around, I’d be likely to run into them, being the night owl that I am.” – Dean Ambrose

84. “I’m up all night, and then next thing you know, it’s the morning, and I’ll sleep, like, three hours. I’m a night owl. I’m usually in the studio at night working, and then I get home, I’m on my phone looking at Instagram pictures and buying stuff.” – Christina Milian

85. “Other sound than the owl’s voice there was none, save the falling of a fountain into its stone basin; for, it was one of those dark nights that hold their breath by the hour together, and then heave a long low sigh, and hold their breath again.” –

86. “Marriage is a wrestling match where you hold on tight while your mate changes into a hundred different things. The trick is that you’re changing into a hundred other things, but you can’t let go. You can only try to match up and never turn into a wolf while he’s a rabbit, or a mouse while he’s still busy being an owl, a brawny black bull while he’s a little blue crab scuttling for shelter. It’s harder than it sounds.” – Catherynne M. Valente

87. “I like owls. I admire their intransigent spirit. I have respected them deeply ever since I met a baby owl in a wood, when it fell over dead, apparently from sheer temper, because I dared to approach it. It defied me first, and then died. I have never forgotten the horror and shame I experienced when that soft fluffy thing—towards which I had nothing but the most humanitarian motives—fell dead from rage at my feet.” – Vita Sackville-West

88. “But the owls themselves are not hard to find—silent and on the wing, with their ear tufts flat against their heads as they fly and their huge wings alternately gliding and flapping as they maneuver through the trees. Athena’s owl of wisdom and Merlin’s companion, Archimedes, were screech owls surely, not this bird with the glassy gaze, restless on the bough, nothing but blood on its mind.” –

89. “She had always lived her best life in dreams. She knew no greater pleasure than that moment of passage into the other place, when her limbs grew warm and heavy and the sparkling darkness behind her lids became ordered and doors opened; when conscious thought grew owl’s wings and talons and became other than conscious.” – John Crowley

90. “Lovely are the curves of the white owl sweeping, wavy in the dusk lit by one large star. Lone on the fir-branch, his rattle-note unvaried, brooding o’er the gloom, spins the brown eve-jar.” – George Meredith

91. “You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

92. “Listen to advice and accept instruction and in the end, you will be wise. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom—and with all thy getting, get understanding.” – Proverbs 4:7

93. “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

94. “If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” – Roald Dahl

95. “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” –

96. “Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Virtue is doing it.” – David Starr Jordan

97. “It was great to see the owls. They’re wild things, of course—killers, savages. They’re wonderful.” – David Almond

98. “The moon seems unaware of the night’s dark, hitting on the damp warm rain, misguiding the owl’s spitting. A thunder light of love, raising hearts, beating while weather learns more from rain lovers meeting.” – Munia Khan

99. “An owl is mostly air.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

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

101. “It was a lot like working at Hogwarts, except that, instead of receiving letters from our owls, we would find coughed-up owl pellets in our coffee mugs.” – Stacey O’Brien

102. “, heard the owl, and flown the screaming eagle.” – Bob Lemon

103. “I had a dream that we purchased an owl that sat there in silence and never did scowl.” – Anonymous

104. “I think I’m a tiny bit like Harry ‘cos I’d like to have an owl. Yeah, that’s the tiny bit, actually.” – Daniel Radcliffe

105. “Owl looked at him, and wondered whether to push him off the tree; but, feeling that he could always do it afterwards, he tried once more to find out what they were talking about.” – A. A. Milne

106. “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

107. “Owl City is exactly as you’d imagine him. It’s hard to have much on him. He’s like a frightened bunny. I feel like if you yelled at him, he’d just dart to a corner of the room.” – Mat Kearney

108. “Rabbit and owl are aging bachelors whose respective megalomania and fussiness are tempered only by their mutual friendship, of which the less said, the better.” – Frederick C. Crews

109. “In the hierarchy of public lands, national parks by law have been above the rest. America’s most special places, where natural beauty and all its attendant pleasures—quiet waters, the scents of fir and balsam, the hoot of an owl, and the dark of a night sky unsullied by city lights—are sacrosanct.” – Michael Shnayerson