50 Fox Quotes That Are Cunning and Sly

Our fox quotes will make you admire the intelligence and cunning of this beautiful creature.

What is it about foxes that make them so mystical?

Please find out more with our fox quotes below.

What is a fox?

A fox is a medium-sized mammal of the family Canidae.

They have handsome faces, triangular ears, upturned snouts, and luxuriously beautiful bushy tails.

Check out these fox facts below:

• Foxes live in underground dens.
• Foxes are more like cats than dogs. 
• Foxes are capable of making over forty unique sounds. 

Are foxes really that smart?

Yes, they are!

Foxes are known for their cunning and intelligence.

Foxes live on every continent of the planet except for Antarctica. 

Their global presence gives them a leg up when it comes to survival.

Over millennia, foxes have developed into animals who use their smarts to improve their quality of life.

The fox and the flea 

At some point in their lives, most animals with fur will attract fleas.

You may have a dog or a cat at home who has suffered through a flea attack.

Cats and dogs may lick themselves or search out fleas with their teeth.

They may itch themselves with their hind legs, but their methods can’t hold a candle to what foxes do in this predicament.

When a fox feels fleas biting it, it seeks cotton plants.

If it cannot find a cotton plant, a fox will seek out dry leaves, bedding, or anything dry that floats.

Next, the fox will find a water source and jump in.

The spirited animal carefully keeps cotton or dry bedding on its surface when it enters the water.

The fox will swim near the cotton as it floats on the top of the water. 

The fox knows the fleas cannot stay underwater forever.

Once the fleas determine they must get out of the water, they panic.

The fox then swims closer to the cotton, and all the fleas jump off onto the cotton.

The fox pushes the flea-filled piece of cotton downstream and swims away free from troublesome fleas! 

Now that is brilliant!

To learn more, check out our fox quotes below. 

Short fox quotes about nature’s intelligent trickster

These quotes remind us why foxes are some of the most intelligent creatures in the wild. 

1. “A fox is subtlety itself.” — Aristophanes

2. “A fox is a wolf who sends flowers.” — Ruth Brown

3. “The sleeping fox catches no poultry.” — Benjamin Franklin

4. “If you deal with a fox, think of his tricks.” — Jean de La Fontaine

5. “Many foxes grow gray, but few grow good.” — Benjamin Franklin

6. “Because no one can catch the motherfucking fox.” — John Green

7. “The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.” — Thomas Paine

8. “One must be a fox to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves” — Niccolo Machiavelli

9. “The prince must be a lion, but he must also know how to play the fox.” — Niccolo Machiavelli

10. “We communicate like the burrows of foxes, in silence and darkness, underground.” — Henry David Thoreau

The best fox quotes for outsmarting life’s traps

Foxes are known for their cunning ability to escape danger. 

11. “The fox condemns the trap, not himself.” — William Blake

12. “One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” — Niccolo Machiavelli

13. “The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.”  — Niccolo Machiavelli

14. “Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction.” Practice resurrection.” — Wendell Berry

15. “An actor is never so great as when he reminds you of an animal falling like a cat, lying like a dog, moving like a fox.” — Francois Truffaut

16. “I am looking for friends. What does that mean, tame? It is an act too often neglected, said the fox. It means to establish ties.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

17. “Men have forgotten this truth, said the fox. But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

18. “I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

19. “Shake paws, count your claws. You steal mine; I’ll borrow yours. Watch my whiskers; check both ears. Robber foxes have no fears.” — Brian Jacques

20. “The fox is not a little orange puppy dog with doe eyes and a waggly tail. It’s a disease-ridden wolf with the morals of a psychopath and the teeth of a great white shark.” — Jeremy Clarkson

The top fox quotes about playing tricks

These quotes remind us why foxes are known as tricksters.

21. “With foxes, we must play the fox.” — Thomas Fuller

22. “The fox knows much, but more he that catcheth him.” — George Herbert

23. “The fox has many tricks. The hedgehog has but one. But that is the best of all.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

24. “Bewildered is the fox who lives to find that grapes beyond reach can be really sour.” — Dorothy Parker

25. “Anybody depending on somebody else’s gods is depending on a fox not to eat chickens.” — Zora Neale Hurston

26. “Like the fox, I run with the hunted, and if I’m not the happiest man on earth, I’m surely the luckiest man alive.” — Charles Bukowski

27. “An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.” — T. S. Eliot

28. “Just that, said the fox. To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

29. “A fox looked at his shadow at sunrise and said, I will have a camel for lunch today. And all morning, he went about looking for camels. But at noon, he saw his shadow again-and he said, “A mouse will do.” — Khalil Gibran

30. “To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Famous fox quotes honoring animal intelligence

This selection celebrates the idea that nature is one of the most outstanding teachers. 

31. “Hee that will deceive the fox, must rise betimes.” — George Herbert

32. “A fox should not be on the jury at a goose’s trial.” — Thomas Fuller

33. “The voice is a wild thing. It can’t be bred in captivity. It is a sport, like the silver fox. It happens.” — Willa Cather

34. “The English country-gentleman galloping after a fox  the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.” — Oscar Wilde

35. “The world may be divided into people that read, people that write, people that think, and fox-hunters.” — William Shenstone

36. “A real fox calls sour not only those grapes that he cannot reach but also those that he has reached and taken away from others.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

37. “He thought about how it might be to be, say, a fox confronted with an angry sheep. A sheep, moreover, that could afford to employ wolves.” — Terry Pratchett

38. “Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden – in all the places.” — Frances Hodgson Burnett

39. “The fox, when it sees a flock of herons or magpies or birds of that kind, suddenly flings himself on the ground with his mouth open to look as he were dead; and these birds want to peck at his tongue, and he bites off their heads.” — Leonardo da Vinci

40. “A fox entered the house of an actor and, rummaging through all his properties, came upon a mask, an admirable imitation of a human head. He placed his paws on it and said, “What a beautiful head! Yet it is of no value, as it entirely lacks brains.” — Aesop

Famous fox quotes celebrating the slyest of the forest

There is a reason people say ‘as sly as a fox.’ 

41. “He was just a fox like a hundred thousand others.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

42. “He is like the fox, who effaces his tracks in the sand with his tail.” — Niels Henrik Abel

43. “The fox, when he cannot reach the grapes, says they are not ripe.” — George Herbert

44. “The lion is ashamed, it’s true when he hunts with the fox.” — Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

45. “It’s a real blessing for me to tell you, sir, that calvary has arrived; Fox is here!” — Glenn Beck

46. “Little foxes spoil the vines, and little sins do mischief to the tender heart.” — Charles Spurgeon

47. “But I’ve made him my friend, and now he’s the only fox in the world.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

48. “Swan maiden at midnight. Cream on the tip of a fox’s tongue. She tastes like hope.” — Laini Taylor

49. “I’m an inveterate fox and not a hedgehog, so I always think you should try everything” — Clifford Geertz

50. “No one has tamed you, and you haven’t tamed anyone. You’re the way my fox was.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Be like the fox!

Foxes are known for their cunning nature, fantastic survival skills, and dedication to their family. 

We would all do well to be like the fox. 

What is your favorite fox quote?

Be sure to let us know in the comments below.