80 Owl Quotes About the Wide-Eyed Night Predator

By Danielle Dahl

Writer, Ph.D Candidate and Inspirational quote curator

Published September 20, 2022

Owls have got to be the cutest birds out there, and these owl quotes are perfect for all owl enthusiasts!

Let us know your favorite thing about owls in the comment section below.

They are so fluffy, and who wouldn’t love those big expressive eyes!

Beyond being cute, their species is known for being a silent night predator.

Their lack of sound has a lot to do with their feathers.

They have special feathers that help break turbulence into smaller currents, which reduces the sound made when flying.

Their soft down (the reason they look fluffy) also helps to muffle and absorb sound.

You can learn more about them coming out at night from these night owl quotes!

What are some more unusual things about owls?

The unique ability that all owls have, regardless of their species, is the ability to turn their heads 270 degrees.

This is because of the extra 7 vertebrae they have!

Owls have 14 vertebrae in their neck, while other birds typically have only 7.

Those adorably large eyes are also unique in the sense that they are completely immobile and tube-shaped.

Owls also have excellent vision, which helps them hunt at night.

Keep reading through these owl quotes to learn if owls are really as smart as we think they are.

Don’t forget to also check out these bird quotes that will fill your mind with thoughts of flying and freedom.

If you like this article, we suggest you explore our most popular quotes article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily encouragement.

Check out more inspirational quotes on our motivational quotes category page.

Poetic owl quotes for the soul

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

2. “The wailing owl Screams solitary to the mournful moon.” — David Mallet

3. “A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?” — Unknown

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

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

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

7. “The large white owl that with eye is blind, that hath sate for years in the old tree hollow, is carried away in a gust of wind.” — Elizabeth Barret

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

9. “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

10. “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

Check out these Screech Quotes about the shrill sound!

Wise Owl quotes about their wisdom, intelligence, and being nocturnal

11. “An owl is traditionally a symbol of wisdom, so we are neither doves nor hawks but owls, and we are vigilant when others are resting.” — Urjit Patel

12. “An owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees the less it talks.” — Christie Watson

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

14. “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

15. “An owl is traditionally a symbol of wisdom, so we are neither doves nor hawks but owls, and we are vigilant when others are resting.” — Urjit Patel

16. “No owl is afraid of the night, no snake of the swamp and no traitor of the treason.” — Unknown

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

18. “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

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

20. “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

Owl quotes from Shakespeare and other writers

21. “The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders At our quaint spirits.” — William Shakespeare

22. “Thou ominous and fearful owl of death.” — William Shakespeare

23. “The night to the owl and morn to the lark less welcome.” — William Shakespeare

24. “The owl by day, if he arise, is mocked and wondered at.” — William Shakespeare

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

26. “The owls are gathering; find out why soon.” — J. K. Rowling

27. “‘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

28. “Sometimes an owl is just an owl.” ― Mark Frost

29. “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

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

31. “The inauspiciousness of the owl is nothing but the inauspiciousness of the man who thinks that owl is inauspicious!” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

Night Owl quotes and sayings

32. “I love filming at night. I’m like a night owl.” — Noah Schnapp

33. “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

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

35. “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

36. “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

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

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

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

Random and Instagram-worthy owl quotes

40. “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

41. “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

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

43. “When the owl sings, the night is silent. (Quand le hibou chante, La nuit est silence)” ― Charles de Leusse

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

45. “The crow wished everything was black, the owl, that everything was white.” — William Blake

46. “The owls are not what they seem.” — Alexis Novak

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

48. “Advice from an owl: stay focused, be “whoo” you are, trust in a wise friend, live off the land, glide through the dark times, be observant, life’s a hoot!” ― Ilan Shamir

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

50. “The owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride.” ― Proverb

Brilliant Owl Quotes To Motivate You

51. “I am both a night owl and an early bird. So I am wise and I have worms.” — Steve Carell

52. “Owl hasn’t exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things.” — A. A. Milne

53. “We are not afraid of the owl, we are the hawks.” — Mehmed II

54. “The owl flies, in the moonlight, over a field where the wounded cry out. Like the owl, I fly in the night over my own misfortune.” — Georges Bataille

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 Ildan

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

57. “I come alive at night. I’m such a night owl.” — Mpho Koaho

58. “I don’t really start writing until later in the night. I’m a night owl.” — Ester Dean

59. “A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.” — Ernest Hemingway

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

Owl Quotes That Will Show You How Wise They Are

61. “Owl is the grand and rather clever old man of the forest. He can also spell Tuesday.” — A. A. Milne

62. “I always showed myself in the face of day, asserting the liberty and independence of my country, while some others, like owls, courted concealment and were too much afraid of losing their roosts to leave them for such a cause.” — William Wallace

63. “There was an old man with a beard, who said: ‘It is just as I feared! Two owls and a hen, four larks and a wren have all built their nests in my beard.” — Edward Lear

64. “It is odd that we have so little relationship with nature, with the insects and the leaping frog 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

65. “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

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

67. “I’ve always been a night owl.”— Blake Lively

68. “I am a night owl. I always have been… and I’d like to think I always will be, although surely having children will put a stop to my nightly affairs with myself.” — Rachel Nichols

69. “There’s always a hidden owl in knowledge.” — E.I. Jane

70. “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

Thought Provoking Owl Quotes

71. “I sit at the piano for a couple of hours and tinker away until I get something. I am a nocturnal spirit, like an owl.” — Thomston

72. I’m kind of a night owl.” — Barack Obama

73. “Suspicion is an owl that flies when the light is bad and catches only vermin for food.” — Austin O’Malley

74. “I think the shocking thing to discover is the owls are not stupid and very feral, very hard to train.” — Robbie Coltraine

75. “You know what I hate the most? People that imitate owls.” — Emo Philips

76. “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

77. The significant owl hoots in the night.” — Terry Pratchett

78. “A professional model is like a stuffed owl. These girls are alive.” — Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

79. “I am brother to dragons, and companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.” — Alan Moore

80. Lamentation is the only musician that always, like a screech-owl, alights and sits on the roof of any angry man.” — Plutarch

What did you learn from these motivational owl quotes?

Most of us have heard the saying “wise old owl,” and if you are a Winnie The Pooh fan, then you know Owl likes to think he knows just about everything there is to know.

However, are owls truly as smart as we think they are?

Well, unlike their eyes, their brains are not very large.

They also don’t belong to the social groups of birds known for their intelligence, like crows.

Most likely, people assigned a human quality to the owl because of its human-like appearance.

Then characters like A. A. Milne’s owl and the owl from Harry Potter reinforced the myth.

However, parrots and crows are actually smarter, even though the owl is a much better hunter.

The brain of the parrot and crow is large compared to their size, while the owl’s behavior is more adaptive thanks to their hunting abilities.