50 Majestic Swan Quotes For Spreading Your Wings
Published May 25, 2023
Spread your wings and celebrate your inner and outer beauty with our swan quotes.
Swans are breathtaking birds who spend their time swimming in lakes, pondering their reflection in the water.
Learn more with our majestic swan quotes below.
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What are swans?
Swans are the birds of the family Anatidae within the genus Cygnus.
Their closest relatives are geese and ducks.
Young swans are known as cygnets or swanlings.
There are six species of swan, and they primarily reside on the American continents.
Check out these awesome swan facts below:
- The constellation Cygnus is the Latin word for swan.
- Swans are a symbol of love because they mate for life.
- Trumpeter swans are enormous and can reach wingspans of ten feet.
Why are swans a symbol of love?
In many cultures, the swan is seen as a symbol of love.
Humans have always looked to nature to see reflections and learn valuable lessons.
For many, swans symbolize love and commitment because, in the natural world, adult swans mate for life.
In African culture, symbols known as Adinkra exists in Ghana.
Each of these symbols symbolically represents a type of wisdom or cultural practice.
One of the most popular of these symbols is sankofa, which is often stylized with two birds facing one another that form a heart or a bird looking back to its past.
Sankofa means returning to your past and reclaiming what belongs to you.
The idea of sankofa is centered on love for one’s self and a love of wisdom.
It is no wonder the sankofa bird resembles a swan, as swans symbolize beauty and love.
What is a swan song?
The swan song is a metaphorical phrase to describe a final gesture or performance before death or retirement.
The phrase comes from the ancient Greek belief that swans sing beautiful songs just before they die since they have been silent most of their lives.
Even Socrates honored the swan when he said, “You think that upon the score of foreknowledge and divining, I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death, they sing more merrily than before because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.”
Swans make distinguishable sounds but do not necessarily sing a song before dying.
To learn more, check out our majestic swan quotes below.
Short swan quotes about the beautiful and graceful creature
In these quotes, swans are personified for their beauty and grace.
1. “O woman shapely as a swan.” — Padraic Colum
2. “Get my swan costume ready.” — Anna Pavlova
3. “Blood is the leitmotif of Black Swan.” — Robert Gottlieb
4. “When turkeys mate, they think of swans.” — Johnny Carson
5. “Remember that you are a Black Swan.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
6. “I will make thee think thy swan a crow.” — William Shakespeare
7. “If swans weren’t real, myths’d make up.” — David Mitchell
8. “Remember you, too, are a beautiful swan.” — Jackie Cantoni
9. “I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep.” — James Elroy Flecker
10. “Every lake belongs to the quietness desired by the swans.” — Munia Khan
Swan quotes and sayings for finding strength and honor
Swans are gentle and strong, with the potential to spread their wings anytime.
11. “But calm, white calm, was born into a swan.” — Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth
12. “This wild swan of a world is no hunter’s game.” — Robinson Jeffers
13. “Swans in the winter air a white perfection have.” — W. H. Auden
14. “Such as ne’er saw swans May think crows beautiful.” — Philip Massinger
15. “Typhoid and swans, it all comes from the same place.” — Thomas Harris
16. “Sometimes I feel my arm is like a swan’s neck, so weak.” — Maria Sharapova
17. “Being invited to score for Black Swan was a real honor.” — Ludovico Einaudi
18. “If you’re looking for monogamy, you’d better marry a swan.” — Nora Ephron
19. “The gliding of the ghostly swans became rare and more rare.” — Wilkie Collins
20. “If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it could be a really ugly swan.” — Timmothy Radman
The best Swan Lake and Black Swan quotes for lovers of all things swan
Swan Lake and Black Swan are two performances that made people reimagine swans.
21. “Hear the music, the thunder of the wings. Love the wild swan.” — Robinson Jeffers
22. “Even if you enter the dirty water, stay neat like a white swan!” — Mehmet Murat Ildan
23. “I have this really morbid, awesome love for the movie ‘Black Swan.’” — Sherri Saum
24. “Having done so many versions, I never felt like an artist in ‘Swan Lake.’” — David Hallberg
25. “Swans always look as though they’d just been reading their own fan mail.” — Jan Struther
26. “Swans are majestic, beautiful-looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments.” — Michael Gira
27. “Sweet Swan of Avon! What a sight it were to see thee in our water yet appear.” — Ben Jonson
28. “You cannot dance an arabesque in ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘Nutcracker’ the same way.” — Natalia Makarova
29. “The key to building long muscle as you swim is stretching arms far ahead of you in the water, sort of like a swan.” — Mary Helen Bowers
30. “‘Swan Lake’ was my favorite piece of music when I was younger, and I never had a chance to skate to it.” — Kaetlyn Osmond
The top swan song quotes about mastering our best performance
The swan song is known as a final performance a master provides before their end.
31. “The swan, like the soul of the poet, By the dull world is ill understood.” — Heinrich Heine
32. “Swan flocks of lilies shoreward lying, In sweetness, not in music, dying.” — John Greenleaf Whittier
33. “There’s a double beauty whenever a swan swims on a lake with her double thereon.” — Thomas Hood
34. “Swans sing before they die – ’twere no bad thing should certain persons die before they sing.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
35. “‘My Swan Song’ – that song is so depressing but uplifting at the same time, you know what I mean?” — Joey Jordison
36. “She tastes like fairy tales. Swan maiden at midnight. Cream on the tip of a fox’s tongue. She tastes like hope.” — Laini Taylor
37. “To be born in a duck’s nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird if it is hatched from a swan’s egg.” — Hans Christian Andersen
38. “For all the water in the ocean Can never turn the swan’s black legs to white, Although she lave them hourly in the flood.” — William Shakespeare
39. “Millions of years ago, in my previous incarnations, I must have been related to swans… because I can still feel that affinity.” — Jean Sibelius
40. “Ugly ducklings don’t turn into swans and glide off down the lake. Whether your sunglasses are on or off, you only see the world you make.” — Bonnie Raitt
Famous silver swan and ugly duckling quotes about finding your place in life
Swans are recognized and respected, but sometimes they must evolve into their beauty.
41. “The silver swan, who, living, had no note, When death approached unlocked her silent throat.” — Orlando Gibbons
42. “The swan in the pool is singing, And up and down doth he steer, And, singing gently ever, Dips under the water clear.” — Heinrich Heine
43. “The swan is not without cause dedicated to Apollo, because foreseeing his happiness in death, he dies with singing and pleasure.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero
44. “For beauty with sorrow Is a burden hard to be borne: The evening light on the foam, and the swans, there; That music, remote, forlorn.” — Walter de La Mare
45. “I’ve developed into quite a swan. I’m one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older – until I drop dead of beauty.” — Rufus Wainwright
46. “It is best to live with honor for just a day than with dishonor for many decades; better a short-lived celestial swan than a century-lived crow.” — Sathya Sai Baba
47. “In my books, there is no ‘ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan syndrome because if you look at the Hansel and Gretel syndrome, it was a mistake.” — Maeve Binchy
48. “There’s no need to curse God if you’re an ugly duckling. He chooses those strong enough to endure it so that they can guide others who’ve felt the same.” — Criss Jami, Killosophy
49. “I was certainly no swan – with my horrendously protruding goofy teeth, bow legs, and under-developed, clumsy, boyish, adolescent body. I was never cool, nor confident.” — Ulrika Jonsson
50. “No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion.” — David Hume
What is so special about swans?
Swans have much to teach us about ourselves and our relationships.
The swan is a waterfowl, meaning it can swing and fly with speed and agility.
The swan must master the sky and the water.
This way, the swan teaches us to push outside our comfort zones until we master new territories.
There is no growth in staying in the comfort zone.
The swan knows this, so it pursues a life in two different terrains to get the most out of its journey.
The swan is also very devoted to its family.
Not only are swans recognized for mating for life, but swans are incredibly territorial and will go to great lengths to defend their nest, mate, and young.
In this way, the swan teaches us the importance of being present for the ones we love and devoting some of our efforts to their well-being.
What do you love about swans?
Please be sure to let us know in the comments section below.
