Sayings about Birds
People live like birds in the woods: When the time comes, each must take flight.~ Chinese Proverb
God gives all birds their food but does not drop it into their nests.~ Danish Proverbs
The falcon does not struggle when he is caught. ~ Moroccan Proverb
Even an eagle will not fly higher than the sun.~ Russian Proverb
You can best shoot an eagle with an arrow made from its own feathers.~ Russian Proverb
Censure pardons the ravens but rebukes the doves. ~ Latin Proverbs
Two sparrows on the same ear of corn are not long friends. ~ French Proverb
The owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride. ~ Traditional Proverb
Turkeys, parrots, and hares don’t know what gratitude is. ~ Indian Proverbs
Birds align with grain, but not with the stick. ~ Omani Proverb
Who cares if a crow is male or female? ~ Japanese Proverb
The crow went traveling abroad and came back just as black. ~ English Proverb
The early bird gets the worm.~ American Proverb
Eagles do not breed doves.~ German Proverbs
In a broken nest there are few whole eggs.~ Chinese Proverb
The crow that mimics a cormorant gets drowned. ~ Japanese Proverb
Singing birds don’t build nests.~ Cameroonian Proverb
Birds of a feather flock together.~ Traditional Proverbs
The crow pecks at the ox to clean it — not to feed from it. ~ Bulgarian Proverb
The sparrow says: “I have not eaten… so the parrot will not eat either.” ~ African Proverb
The sparrow flying behind the hawk thinks the hawk is fleeing. ~ Japanese Proverbs
Only heaven can see the back of a sparrow. ~ Bantu Proverb
The crow may be caged, but its thoughts are in the cornfield. ~ Creole Proverb (Southern U.S.)
The crow does not roost with the phoenix. ~ Chinese Proverb
No need to teach an eagle to fly.~ Greek Proverb
The eagle was killed by an arrow made from its own feathers.~ Armenian Proverb
The wagtail hops and flaps its wings, but the male dove feeds and coos. ~ Maltese Proverb
A secret is like a dove: when it leaves my hand it takes wing. ~ Saudi Arabian Proverb
A crow will never be a dove. ~ Bulgarian Proverb
If there are no nightingales one must settle for owls. ~ Danish Proverb
Frequent washing makes not the crow whiter. ~ Danish Proverb
A flying crow always catches something. ~ Dutch Proverb
The eagle does not feed on flies.~ Turkish Proverbs
He who has no falcon must hunt with an owl. ~ Danish Proverb
It’s not the fault of the parrot, but of the one who teaches him to talk. ~ Guatemalan Proverb
If the cat had wings all sparrows would die. ~ Danish Proverb
He who is frightened of a sparrow will never sow barley. ~ Russian Proverb
A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can’t catch it. ~ Russian Proverb
Slowly but surely, the bird builds its nest.~ Dutch Proverbs
The eagle does not wage war against frogs.~ Italian Proverbs
The feathers of a dead eagle would cover you all over.~ Gabonese Proverb
A chattering bird builds no nest.~ Cameroonian Proverb
When a dove begins to fly with crows, its feathers remain white but its heart grows black. ~ German Proverb
A crow will never be a falcon. ~ Ukranian Proverb
If you have money, men think you are wise, handsome, and able to sing like a bird.~ Jewish Proverb
A wise falcon hides his talons.~ Traditional Proverb
Don’t let the falcon loose until you see the hare. ~ Chinese Proverb
The raven sees its chickens as falcons.~ Turkish Proverb
The old age of an eagle is better than the youth of a sparrow.~ Greek Proverb
Better a dove on the plate than a woodgrouse in the mating place. ~ Russian Proverb
By going and coming, a bird weaves its nest.~ Ghanaian Proverb
A dove has no place amongst the crows. ~ Greek Proverb
You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.~ Chinese Proverb
The hunter who is tracking an elephant does not stop to throw stones at birds.~ African Proverb
Even the mightiest eagle comes down to the treetops to rest.~ Ugandan Proverb
Quotations about Birds
Never look for the birds of this year in the nests of the last.~ Miguel De Cervantes
Don’t quack like a duck, soar like an eagle.~ Ken Blanchard
A powerful combination to ensure success is having the vision of an eagle and the heart of a lion.~ Robert G. Allen
A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.~ Maya Angelou
Success is full of promise till one gets it, and then it seems like a nest from which the bird has flown.~ Henry Ward Beecher
The little owls call to each other with tremulous, quavering voices throughout the livelong night, as they sit in the creaking trees. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
The falcon and the dove sit there together, and th’ one of them doth prune the other’s feather. ~ Michael Drayton
I’m youth, I’m joy, I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.~ Sir James M Barrie
I’ve always believed the greater danger is not aiming too high, but too low, settling for a bogey rather than shooting for an eagle.~ Peter Scott
The wing of the Falcon brings to the king, the wing if the crow brings him to the cemetery. ~ Muhammad Iqbal
Whether you wind up with a nest egg or a goose egg depends on the kind of chick you married. ~ Wall Street Journal
One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Fool that I was, upon my eagle’s wings I bore this wren, till I was tired with soaring, and now he mounts above me.~ John Dryden
And from Humming-Bird to Eagle, the daily existence of every bird is a remote and bewitching mystery. ~ Thomas Wentworth Higginson
The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing. ~ Eric Berne
You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren.~ Henry Hudson
You know, I’m an eagle, flying around in the mountains.~ Link Wray
A forest bird never wants a cage.~ Henrik Ibsen
The bird, a nest; the spider, a web; man, friendship.~ William Blake
No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.~ William Blake
There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.~ Carl Sandburg
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? ~ Rose F. Kennedy
She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot. ~ Mark Twain
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber. ~ Winston Churchill
Teach a parrot the terms “supply and demand” and you’ve got an economist. ~ Thomas Carlyle
Much talking is the cause of danger. Silence is the means of avoiding misfortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage. Other birds, without speech, fly freely about. ~ Saskya Pandita
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. ~ Will Rogers
I’m a parrot. I can pick up an accent and just do it. ~ Brion James
Essentially, a parrot is a monkey with wings. ~ Joseph Garner
Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers – a living prismatic gem…. it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description. ~ W.H. Hudson
The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. ~ Sun Tzu
It happens as one sees in cages: the birds who are outside despair of ever getting in, and those within are equally desirous of getting out. ~ Michel Eyqem De Montagne
You can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.~ William J. Clinton
We like to praise birds for flying. But how much of it is actually flying, and how much of it is just sort of coasting from the previous flap? ~ Jack Handey
If one cannot catch a bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.~ Nikita Khrushchev
Birds have bills too, and they keep on singing.~ Author Unknown
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs. ~ Joseph Addison
Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.~ Elizabeth Bowen
God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages. ~ Jacques Deval