Wolves
From Wikiquote
Wolves (Canis lupus) are quadrupedal carnivorous mammals. Wolves feature in folklore and mythology of cultures ancient to modern across the northern hemisphere; from the Norse legend of the giant Fenrir to more sympathetic depictions in Central Asia and the suckling of Romulus and Remus in the foundation of Rome. More familiar still are the fairy tales where the wolf appears as a villain such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. Wolf legends have also given rise to the popular horror figure of the werewolf.
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wolf behowls the moon.
- There are, of course, several things in Ontario that are more dangerous than wolves. For instance, the step-ladder.
- J.W. Curran, The Canadian Wildlife Almanac, 1981
- It is popularly believed that there is no written record of a healthy wolf ever having killed a person in North America. Those making the claim ignore Eskimoes and Indians who have been killed and are careful to rule out rabid wolves....
Ernest Thompson Seton believed that wolves attacked and killed people before the coming of guns and poisons, especially during the Winter months when food was scarce, and Native American oral history supports this.- Excerpt from Of Wolves and Men (1978) by Barry Lopez.
- Historically wolves were severely and effectively prosecuted in North America by a well-armed population, which kept wolves rare and shy. Add the urban population's estrangement from nature, the rise of environmentalism (with a rosy vision of wilderness and a "let it be" philosophy), and a distorted vision of predation is the logical outcome...
...none of the above apply to Russia. Peasants were systematically disarmed to keep them from rebelling effectively against their masters.- Excerpt from Valerius Geist's introduction to Wolves in Russia (2007) by Will Graves.
- In reviewing earlier the historical material pertaining to wolf attacks on humans I discovered some very striking ironies, the most striking being that while North American wolf biologists vehemently opposed the wolf image portrayed in Grimm's fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, and failed to research and develop an understanding of when wolves became dangerous to people and when not, their colleagues studying coyotes did just that! Biologists studying urban coyotes developed a sound understanding predicting when coyotes living in cities would attack children. The biologists studying coyotes were not in a state of political denial. And they put nobody at risk. Quite the contrary! As I have shown, wolves signal impending attacks on people a long time before it happens. They act very much like their smaller cousin, the coyote. Yet the vehemence with which the myth of the "benign wolf" is defended by environmental groups, but also individuals claiming to be scientists studying wolves, transcends reason.
- "Statement by Valerius Geist pertaining to the death of Kenton Carnegie", September 29, 2007, p. 11. [1]
- “They are an effective, widespread, and basic predator. They are not very good adapting to change. Wolves are often referred to as an indicator species, which means that any little deterioration of their habitat causes immediate drop in their numbers in that habitat. They don’t seem to be able to adjust to expanding civilization the way coyotes do. The coyote’s range is increasing in the face of human expansion, while the wolf’s is decreasing.”
- Raymond Coppinger and Lorna Coppinger 2001. Dogs. Scribner New York. pp. 23 Speaking of wolves
- Wolves housed in cages which are far too small, are still among the most pitiful of all caged animals.
- Conrad Lorenz, King Solomon's Ring, 1952
- Inescapably, the realization was being borne in upon my preconditioned mind that the centuries-old and universally accepted human concept of wolf character was a palpable lie. On three separate occasions in less than a week I had been completely at the mercy of these 'savage killers'; but far from attempting to tear me limb from limb, they had displayed a restraint verging on contempt, even when I invaded their home and appeared to be posing a direct threat to the young pups.
- Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf
- On the ragged edge of the world I'll roam, and the home of the wolf shall be my home.
- Robert Service, The Nostomaniac
- Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon.- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, v.1.379
- It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be.
- Virgil, Aeneid
- No sheep can be a king in the empire of wolves, but any wolf can be an emperor in the kingdom of sheep! Paw is the key to the throne.
- Mehmet ildan, Quotations
- The story of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf is not a meaningless fable. The founders of every State which has risen to eminence have drawn their nourishment and vigor from a similar wild source. It was because the children of the Empire were not suckled by the wolf that they were conquered and displaced by the children of the Northern forests who were.
- Henry David Thoreau, Walking, 1862
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- We listened for a voice crying in the wilderness. And we heard the jubilation of wolves!
- Durwood L. Allen
- I've always said that the best wolf habitat resides in the human heart. You have to leave a little space for them to live.
- Ed Bangs
- Wolves are not our brothers; they are not our subordinates, either. They are another nation, caught up just like us in the complex web of time and life.
- Henry Beston
- The timber wolves will be our friends We'll stay up late and howl, At the moon, till nighttime ends, Before going on the prowl
- The wolf's clear, intelligent eyes brushed mine. The wolf is gentle-hearted. Not noble, not cowardly, just non-fighting.
- Lois Crisler, 1958
- Speak of the wolf and you will see its teeth.
- Unknown
- Wolf is the Grand Teacher. Wolf is the sage, who after many winters upon the sacred path and seeking the ways of wisdom, returns to share new knowledge with the tribe. Wolf is both the radical and the traditional in the same breath. When the Wolf walks by you - you will remember.
- Robert Ghost Wolf
- We humans fear the beast within the wolf because we do not understand the beast within ourselves.
- Gerald Hausman
- The caribou feeds the wolf, but it is the wolf who keeps the caribou strong.
- Keewation (Inuit) proverb
- For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
- Rudyard Kipling
- Only a mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf.
- Aldo Leopold
- To look into the eyes of a wolf is to see your own soul - hope you like what you see.
- Aldo Leopold
- We reached the old wolf in time to watch the fierce green fire dying in her eyes... There was something new to me in those eyes-- something known only to her and the mountains. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch. I thought that because fewer wolves more deer that no wolves would mean hunter's paradise, but after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.
- Aldo Leopold
- The gaze of the wolf reaches into our soul.
- Barry Lopez
- Throughout the centuries we have projected on to the wolf the qualities we most despise and fear in ourselves.
- Barry Lopez
- Wolves may feature in our myths, our history and our dreams, but they have their own future, their own loves, their own dreams to fulfil.
- Anthony Miles
- The wolf is neither man's competitor nor his enemy. He is a fellow creature with whom the earth must be shared.
- L. David Mech
- If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes.
- L. David Mech
- We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be.. the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer.. which is, in reality no more than a reflexed image of ourself.
- Farely Mowat
- Throw me to the wolves because there's order in the pack.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, 'Easily'
- They say the wolf bestows its happy spirit to help people. Women who obtain this spirit become skilled in creative endeavours and experience a strengthening of the senses. I would like to think there is some truth to this in my own life.
- Judi Rideout
- The wolf is kept fed by its feet.
- Russian Proverb
- Anyone who has ever heard it when the land was covered with a blanket of snow and elusively lighted by shimmering moonlight, will never forget the strange, trembling wolf cry.
- Unknown
- How lonely is the night without the howl of a wolf.
- Unknown
- Perhaps it was the eyes of the wolf, measured, calm, knowing.
Perhaps it was the intense sense of family.
After all, wolves mate for life, are
loyal partners, create hunting communities
and demonstrate affectionate patience in pup rearing.
Perhaps it was the rigid hierarchy of the packs.
Each wolf had a place in the whole and yet retained his individual personality.
Perhaps it was their great, romping, ridiculous sense of fun.
Perhaps it was some celestial link with thw winter night skies
that prompted the wolf to lay his song on the icy air.
For the native people who lived with the wolves,
and the wolves once ranged from the Arctic to the sub-tropics,
there was much to learn from them.
Is it any wonder that the myths of many tribes characterize the wolves
not as killers but as teachers?- Unknown
- A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little bit higher.
- Russian Proverb
- A gentleman is simply a patient wolf.
- Lana Turner
- If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf.
- Nikita Khrushchev
- A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.
- Bertrand de Jouvenal
- There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
- George Carlin
- Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper.
- Larry Flynt
- Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.
- German Proverb
- A wolf will walk a thousand miles to eat people: a dog half way to heaven will still eat dung.
- Chinese proverb
- No matter how much you feed the wolf, he keeps looking at the forest.
- Ilse Lehiste
- He who company with wolves learns to howl.
- Spanish Proverb
- Last night I dreamed I was chasing a pack of wolves, trying to belong.
- Edgar Cayce
- Flattery looks like friendship, just as a wolf looks like a dog.
- Norse Proverb
- A female is a person who screams at the mouse and smiles at the wolf.
- Shyam Kapoor
- All dogs bark at a wolf.
- Yesugi (father of Genghis Khan)
