50 Scarecrow Quotes Celebrating A Misunderstood Agricultural Tool

Learn something new today with our scarecrow quotes.

You’re probably familiar with the Scarecrows that show up in farmer‘s fields or as decorations in the fall, but you may have never considered their history.

Find out more about this interesting subject with our scarecrow quotes.

What is a scarecrow?

A scarecrow is an artificially made mannequin that resembles a person.

Usually, they are designed to frighten or scare surrounding animals and pests. 

Check out these interesting scarecrow facts:

• Ancient Egyptians hung tunics on reeds to scare quail away from their crops. 
• In ancient Greece, wooden statues of the god Priapus were placed in crop fields. 
• Japanese farmers constructed the Kuebiko to keep sparrows from eating their rice. 

Do all scarecrows look the same?

There are many instances of scarecrow technology being used by various cultures across the planet. 

Scarecrow design reflects the cultures they stem from.

Some scarecrows are meant to look scary with sharp teeth and claws, while others have happy smiles and overalls. 

However, cultures took scarecrowing to the next level. 

Before people dressed up in cosplay for fun, some cultures dressed up for practical purposes. 

There are instances of ancient Native American peoples who would sit on raised platforms near crops and shout at birds or approaching animals.  

They were real-life scarecrows; how cool is that?

Scarecrows during the Dark Ages

Scarecrows have an interesting history in Europe. 

They have long been tied to supernatural ideas, often depicted as a monster in tattered clothing.

There was a practical purpose to these depictions.

In Europe, children often ran through fields to scare birds away from crops. 

Scarecrows could scare birds and prevent children from running too far away in the fields where danger may lurk. 

Is Jack-O-Lantern a scarecrow?

Jack-O-Lantern resembles a scarecrow in that he has a head made of produce. 

However, he is not a scarecrow. 

The legend of Jack-O-Lantern comes from the Dark Ages of Ireland. 

Jack is doomed to wander the void between hell and heaven in Irish and some English folk tales. 

In order to see the path, he carries a light in a turnip or pumpkin. 

Later in his journey, the pumpkin replaces his head. 

To learn more, check out our scarecrow quotes below. 

Short scarecrow quotes about fear, ambition, and terror 

We begin our scarecrow journey with these short quotes about scarecrows. 

1. “Mr. Dallstrom is a bald, scarecrow of a man with a poochy stomach.” — Richard Paul Evans

2. “Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.” — Thomas Huxley

3. “We must all make do with the rags of love we find flapping on the scarecrow of humanity.” — Angela Carter

4. “I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow.” — Charlotte Bronte

5. “Experience has already shown that the impeachment the Constitution has provided is not even a scarecrow.” — Thomas Jefferson

6. “That prudery which survives youth and beauty resembles a scarecrow left in the fields after harvest.” — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

7. “You’re just a straw-brained scarecrow.” — Shannon Hale

8. “No competence is required to be a scarecrow!” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

9. “Even if you look like a scarecrow, you just gotta go!” — Jonathan Brandis

10. “Every scarecrow has a secret ambition to terrorize.” — Stanislaw Jerzy Lec 

Scarecrow quotes and sayings about life

This selection includes some pretty deep scarecrow quotes. 

11. “The Homeland Security chairman suggested using traditional metal detectors. While LaGuardia will continue to just have a scarecrow dressed as a cop.” — Jimmy Fallon

12. “We are no more responsible for the evil thoughts that pass through our minds than a scarecrow for the birds which fly over the seedplot he has to guard.” — John Churton Collins

13. “The way I see it, a person isn’t nothing more than a scarecrow.” — Barbara Kingsolver

14. “Meek wives are, in general, foolish mothers; wanting their children to love them best, and take their part, in secret, against the father, who is held up as a scarecrow.” — Mary Wollstonecraft

15. “Death has been painted as a skeleton grasping a scythe, a grinning skull, a threatening figure with terrible face and uplifted dart, a bony scarecrow shaking an hourglass.” — Annie Besant

16. “A king may be a tool, a thing of straw; but if he serves to frighten our enemies and secure our property, it is well enough; a scarecrow is a thing of straw, but it protects the corn.” — Alexander Pope

17. “Life is populated with scarecrows—all those people and things that seem so scary and trouble our sleep.” — Jerry Spinelli

18. “My, that’s a good-looking scarecrow.” — Sarah Rees Brennan

19. “We must not make a scarecrow of the law. — William Shakespeare

20. “[Inferiority] especially plaques anyone who lives behind a mask. An elephant in her disguise as a human princess, a scarecrow with painted features.” — Gregory Maguire

Scarecrow quotes from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Here, we have a great selection of Scarcrow quotes from The Wizard of Oz. 

21. “I cannot think why this wall is here nor what it is made of.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

22. “Everything in life is unusual until you get accustomed to it.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

23. “But that isn’t right. The King of Beasts shouldn’t be a coward.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

24. “But, after all, brains are not the best things in the world.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

25. “It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh, for you must sleep, and eat and drink.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

26. “However, you have brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to be able to think properly.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

27. “I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

28. “You’d have saved yourself a heap of trouble if you weren’t too cheap to invest in a leash, Dorothy.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

29. “I hate to be obvious.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

30. “That proves you are unusual.” — The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

The top scarecrow quotes to live by

These scarecrow quotes are bound to make you think. 

31. “There are only two good outcomes for a quest like this, the hope of the serendipitous savant sail for Asia and stumble on America and the hope of scarecrows and tin men.” — Jess Walter

32. “Pessimism: philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile.” — Ambrose Bierce

33. “I look at a picture like Scarecrow and think, ‘Jesus, how could they have let us make that?’” — Vilmos Zsigmond

34. “What fabrications they are, mothers: scarecrows, wax dolls for us to stick pins into, crude diagrams.” — Margaret Atwood

35. “This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means.” — Charles Dickens

36. “If I go to the theatre now, I find people come there to eat and smoke and talk to one another. And look like scarecrows.” — Evelyn Waugh

37. “I didn’t like the fact that we’d start a comic with the Joker, and by the time we inked it, he would have turned into the Scarecrow.” — Neil Gaiman

38. “The greatest burden in the world is superstition, not only of ceremonies in the church but of imaginary and scarecrow sins at home.” — John Milton

39. “I’d rather look a little chubby on camera and look like a person in real life than look great on screen and look like a scarecrow in real life.” — Jennifer Lawrence

40. “The natural/supernatural distinction itself, and the near-equation of ‘supernatural’ with ‘superstition,’ are scarecrows that Enlightenment thought has erected in its fields to frighten away anyone following the historical argument where it leads.” — N. T. Wright

Famous Scarecrow quotes from Batman Arkham Knight about fear

The Scarecrow from Batman is much different from the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. We close our list with these bone-chilling Scarecrow quotes about fear.  

41. “Do you want my opinion? “You need to lighten up.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

42. “Fear isn’t pure biology, Batman. It’s more than instinct.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

43. “Hope is the spread wings of a Bat, shining on the clouds.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

44. “Take a seat. Have a drink. You look like a man who takes himself too seriously.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

45. “This is where we make the medicine. Perhaps you should have some. Clear your head.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

46. “How can the world know fear–true dread–when it has you? A stalwart knight, ever ready to slay monsters.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

47. “Boo! Aw, having trouble?” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

48. “True fear is the absence of hope.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

49. “The mind can only take so much.” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

50. “There is nothing to fear but fear itself!” — Scarecrow, Batman Arkham Knight

Which scarecrows work the best?

Human psychology is funny sometimes. 

In our heads, we think putting a scary-looking figure in a field will repel more pests than a happy-looking figure. 

Experiments show that birds or other pests respond to happy-looking and scary-looking scarecrows in the same way.  

Do you have a favorite scarecrow quote?

Be sure to let us know in the comments.