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Whales Quotes

Browse 306 quotes about Whales.

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Whales Quotes

“[Footnote:] Pliny the Elder described a Whale called "Balaena or Whirlpool, which is so long and broad as to take up more in length and breadth than two acres of ground." This brings up again the old question: Are the classics doomed? Our ancestors believed that four years of this sort of information would inevitably produce a President, or at least a Cabinet Member. It didn't seem to work out that way.”

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Author:Will Cuppy
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“In the twelfth century the Basque fishermen of Biarritz used to hunt whales with deadly efficiency. When the whales sensibly moved away, the Basques chased them further and further, with the consequence that the fishermen of Biarritz discovered America before Columbus did. This is a matter for local pride but on a larger view it is not quite so stunning, since with the possible exception of the Swiss everybody discovered America before Columbus did.”

MatterAmericaUsedViewsHistoryCenturyHumourPrideConsequenceMovedLocalsExceptionEfficiencyHuntsWhalesFishermanStunningColumbusSwissBasques
Book:Flying Visits
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“We are the bird's eggs. Bird's eggs, flowers, butterflies, rabbits, cows, sheep, we are caterpillars; we are leaves of ivy and springs of wildflower. We are women. We rise from the wave. We are gazelle and doe, elephant and whale, lilies and roses and peach, we are air, we are flame, we are oyster and pearl, we are girls. We are woman and nature. And he says he cannot hear us speak. But we hear.”

DoeGirlSpeakAirFlowerSpringBirdRoseWaveFlamesEggsCowsSheepButterflyElephantsPearlsRabbitsWhalesLiliesIvyOystersPeachesCaterpillarsWildflowersGazelles
Author:Susan Griffin
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“As the dolphin becomes just another victim of humanity's utilitarian attitudes towards the earth, it seems as though the ancient friendship between our respective species is no longer entirely reciprocal. Such exploitation is nowhere more evident than in the capture and display of cetaceans for profit. Stripped of their natural identity, deprived of their own culture and environment, the dolphin and whale incarcerated within the oceanarium not only symbolizes an abuse of that ancient relationship, but above all our estrangement from nature as a whole.”

WholeSeemsEarthHumanityCultureNaturalAttitudeEnvironmentIdentityAbuseVictimSpeciesAncientProfitCaptureDisplayExploitationEvidentDeprivedWhalesDolphinsReciprocalEstrangementUtilitarian
Author:Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
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“I'm beginning to feel that the real endangered species on planet earth are not the whales and the elephants but those of us who can laugh at the world and ourselves. ... I fear the dry turn of the American mind, this focus on the literal, as much as I fear our capacity for self-destruction. We've become hagridden by facts, obsessed with product instead of process. Where's the energetic wit, the looney outlook, the frivolity, the lightness of comforting laughter? It has become fashionable to know and unfashionable to feel, and you can't really laugh if you can't feel.”

IfsKnowsWorldFeelsMindRealSelfFactsFeelingsHumorEarthTurnsProcessLaughingFocusPlanetsProductsLaughterCapacityDestructionSpeciesWitObsessedDryElephantsOutlookComfortingFashionableLiteralWhalesEnergeticPlanet EarthSelf DestructionLightnessFrivolityEndangered Species
Author:Rita Mae Brown
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“The ocean is a place of paradoxes. It is the home of the great white shark, two-thousand-pound killer of the seas, and of the hundred-foot blue whale, the largest animal that ever lived. It is also the home of living things so small that your two hands might scoop up as many of them as there are stars in the Milky Way.”

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Book:Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson
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“Culture, which by definition serves no purpose, has now found a role as the consort of business. Right off the bat we have a beached whale, since there is nothing that disdains culture as much as business does. ... In fact, 'corporate culture' is nothing more than the crystallization of the stupidity of a group of people at a given moment.”

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Author:Corinne Maier
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“John Lilly suggests whales are a culture maintained by oral traditions. Stories. The experience of an individual whale is valuable to the survival of its community. I think of my family stories-Mother's in particular-how much I need them now, how much I will need them later. It has been said when an individual dies, whole worlds die with them. The same could be said of each passing whale.”

ThinkingWorldNeedsHas BeensSaidWholeStoriesMotherDiesCultureIndividualCommunityParticularSurvivalTraditionMy FamilyValuableWhole WorldPassingPassingsWhalesOral Tradition
Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
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“Anyhow, there simply isnt enough room in the museums Fishes Hall, so weve decided to pretend to the public that a whale is actually a mammal without any legs. Its pathetically ridiculous-I mean to say, just look at the thing, its a gigantic fish if I ever saw one-but mums the word! In my experience the public will believe just about anything, so long as you write it down on a little piece of card.”

IfsWritingBelieveLooksMeanLittlesLongEnoughRoomsSawsPiecesDecidedFishesLegsRidiculousCardsHallsMuseumsMumWhalesMammals
Author:Gideon Defoe
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“So, too, if, to our surprise, we should meet one of these morons whose remarks are so conspicuous a part of the folklore of the world of the radio--remarks made without using either the tongue or the brain, spouted much like the spoutings of small whales--we should recognize him as below the level of nature but not as below the level of the imagination.”

IfsWorldShouldMadeImaginationLevelsBrainSurpriseRadioTongueRemarksWhalesMoronFolklore
Book:The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination
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“In response to criticism of its treatment of killer whales, Sea World said it will build them a larger habitat. When asked for comment, killer whales said, 'Hey, you know what's a larger habitat?' THE OCEAN.”

KnowsWorldSaidRealityScienceNatureCommunityJusticeComedySeaPolicyHealthOceanEthicsCapitalismCriticismStrategyPropertyResponseIdeologyHeyTreatmentCommentKillersFree MarketDisobedienceWhalesCivil DisobedienceHabitatHey YouKiller Whales
Author:Conan O'Brien
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“A story of remarkable simplicity and charm. A young swimmer invites us into sea off the coast of California where through her eyes we see an entire realm of creatures we have never known so intimately before. Truly for people of all ages, Lynne Cox's adventure with the baby whale, Grayson, becomes a parable and an experience, thanks not only to the author's great and generous spirit, but through her immense gift for describing nature.”

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Author:Anne Rice
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“Oceans need more attention because climate change IS an ocean issue. Our oceans will be the first victim, and sea life will suffer dramatically. Detailed proof is hard in ocean science, but I think we're already seeing big ocean changes caused by climate change, such as starvation of whales, seabirds, and other animals off the coast US west coast.”

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Author:Mark Powell
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“Creation is all things and us. It is us in relationship with all things. All things, the ones we see and the ones we do not; the whirling galaxies and the wild suns, the black holes and the microorganisms, the trees and the stars, the fish and the whales - the molten lava and the towering snow-capped mountains, the children we give birth to and their children, and theirs, and theirs, and theirs.”

GivingChildrenStarsBlackSunTreeCreationBirthMountainAll ThingsFishesHolesSnowGalaxyWhalesBlack HoleLavaMicroorganisms
Author:Matthew Fox
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“He rose and turned toward the lights of town. The tidepools bright as smelterpots among the dark rocks where the phosphorescent seacrabs clambered back. Passing through the salt grass he looked back. The horse had not moved. A ship's light winked in the swells. The colt stood against the horse with its head down and the horse was watching, out there past men's knowing, where the stars are drowning and whales ferry their vast souls through the black and seamless sea.”

MenSoulLightPastStarsBlackDarkKnowingSeaRocksHorseTownsDown AndMovedRosePassingPassingsShipsGrassSaltDrowningWhalesPassing ThroughSeamlessFerryColts
Author:Cormac McCarthy
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