Lion Quotes, Sayings
These lion quotes express the traits most associated with the king of the beasts — confident, powerful, brave, and strong.
Learn from these quotes and sayings what it means to be like the mighty lion and aspire to greatness.
Best lion quotes
These quotes describe the heart of the lion: a feared predator, a courageous leader, and the ruler of its kingdom.
1. Inspirational lion quotes
If ever you feel like an animal among men, be a lion.
Criss Jami
Whatever you do; do it like a lion, wholeheartedly.
Harsh Tiwari
If you want to be a lion, you must train with lions.
Carlson Gracie
It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.
Abe Gubegna
About greatness
Never forget who you are — A lion, a king, a winner, a champion. You are destined for greatness.
Asad Meah
About character
The lion is, however, rarely heard — much more seldom seen.
John Hanning Speke
Charity purifies your heart and makes you a lion.
Kishore Bansal
The lion doesn’t care that the sheep laugh at him. Remember that. The lion just stays there. The animals make noise and tease. The guy with the belt is the lion.
B. J. Penn
A lion is not a lion is not a lion. As individuals, as mates, as members of a society, they’re all very different.
Frans Lanting
Brave lion
The difference between a brave man and a coward is a coward thinks twice before jumping in the cage with a lion. The brave man doesn’t know what a lion is. He just thinks he does.
Charles Bukowski
Courage
This is not an end. It is a beginning. You will need the courage of a lion to face this journey.
Erin Hunter
Love transforms our fear into courage like the once cowardly Lion of Oz.
Chris T. Atkinson
Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter.
Aaron Hill
Attitude
Lions are the ones who never look back on barking dogs.
M. Rehan Behleem
Familiarity makes the lion more dangerous.
Jocelyn Murray
The lion is, however, rarely heard — much more seldom seen.
John Hanning Speke
The lion does not need the whole world to fear him, only those nearest where he roams.
A. J. Darkholme
Confidence
The lion never fears to walk alone.
Lailah Gifty Akita
She slept with wolves without fear, for the wolves knew a lion was among them.
R.M. Drake
No other creatures of the savannah sleep as deeply or as soundly as lions, but after all, lions are the main reason for not sleeping soundly.
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Satan prowls but he’s a lion on a leash.
Ann Voskamp
2. Motivational lion quotes for success
The lion is passion, the lion is the fire. Lions call you to them.
Michael Samuels
Leadership mindset
The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.
Osho
To achieve the mood of a warrior is not a simple matter. It is a revolution. To regard the lion and the water rats and our fellow men as equals is a magnificent act of a warrior’s spirit. It takes power to do that.
Carlos Castaneda
The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.
Charles Spurgeon
Intelligence entails a strong mind, but genius entails a heart of a lion in tune with a strong mind.
Criss Jami
Lion heart
It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
Winston Churchill
I may not be a lion, but I am lion’s cub and I have lion’s heart.
Elizabeth I
A dog might feel as majestic as a lion, might bark as loud as a roar, might have a heart as mighty and brave as a Lion’s heart, But at the end of the day, a dog is a dog and a lion is a lion.
Charlyn Khater
Be like a lion and a wolf. Then you will have a big heart and the power of leadership.
Unknown
I refuse to be outworked, and I consider myself to have the heart of a lion.
Draymond Green
Have the heart of a lion, the skin of a rhino, and the soul of an angel.
Unknown
Strength
The lion is the defender of the faith, strength, valor, fortitude, and kingliness.
Murray Zimiles
If the lion knew his own strength, hard were it for any man to rule him.
Thomas More
A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.
Vernon Howard
A lioness will use all of her strength even when hunting a rabbit.
Kazuki Nakashima
At a certain point, even if the one alpha male is dominant, at a certain point there’s a younger lion that is stronger, and everyone knows it.
Josh Lucas
Powerful
The gait of the lion is relaxed until he is ready to charge. The charge is a series of great springs.
Theodore M. Vestal
The lion is an emblem of the dream of absolute power—and, as a wild rather than a domestic animal, he belongs to a world outside the realm of society and culture.
Charles H. Hinnant
People always want to see that, the young lion going to take the old lion out.
Amir Khan
A lion doesn’t need to prove that it’s a threat, you already know what the lion is capable of.
Unknown
3. King of the jungle quotes
A lion is called a ‘king of beasts’ obviously for a reason.
Jack Hanna
Of all animals, the outward form of the Lion is the most striking; his look is bold and confident; his gait proud, and his voice terrible; and from his great strength and agility, is usually styled the king of beasts.
William Pinnock
I love watching the Serengeti, the way lions live. The only way the king lion loses his crown is by somebody physically defeating him.
Ray Lewis
Roused by the lash of his own stubborn tail our lion now will foreign foes assail.
John Dryden
Lion roar quotes
Rise to the occasion. Roar like a lion.
Alastair Reynolds
Did you think the lion was sleeping because he didn’t roar?
Friedrich Schiller
I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion’s roar.
Winston Churchill
Truth does not sit in a cave and hide like a lie. It wanders around proudly and roars loudly like a lion.
Suzy Kassem
I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.
John Steinbeck
Did you think the lion was sleeping because he didn’t roar?
Friedrich Schiller
When a lion meets another with a louder roar, the first lion thinks the last a bore.
George Bernard Shaw
An injured lion still wants to roar.
Randy Pausch
4. Lion quotes about life
Come out of the masses. Stand alone like a lion and live your life according to your own light.
Osho
If it sounds like a sheep but looks like a lion, it’s probably a lion.
Nicholas Eames
The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.
Saint Augustine
Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn.
Martin Amis
It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.
Elizabeth Kenny
When a lion doesn’t get its prey, it remains hungry. When the prey saves himself, he has not won, but has saved his life.
Uday Kotak
It is better to go in the dark when the road must pass a lion and there is no other road.
Robert E. Howard
A Lion that hunts for survival in the jungle does not envy the one being fed in a zoo.
Suhaib Rumi
A lion who breaks the enemy’s ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.
Rumi
The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.
Chanakya
About love
Love has the face of a goddess, but the talons of a lion.
Ivan Panin
Zen
A lion chased me up a tree and I greatly enjoyed the view from the top.
Confucius
5. Lion and lamb quotes
It’s not in the nature of the lamb to mourn the lion.
Peter Watts
An Englishman, being flattered, is a lamb; threatened, a lion.
George Chapman
A lion’s work hours are only when he’s hungry; once he’s satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefully together.
Chuck Jones
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
The Bible
Lion and sheep sayings
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
Alexander the Great
It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.
Daniel Defoe
I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
Lioness
A lioness has got a lot more power than the lion likes to think she has.
Jacki Weaver
I have always liked lionesses. Female lions have always seemed like the best. They were really strong and took care of their babies and are beautiful.
Brooke Shields
The lioness giveth birth to cubs which remain three days without life. Then cometh the lion, breatheth upon them, and bringeth them to life.
Bill Vaughan
6. Funny lion quotes
An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery.
Walter Winchell
If you see the teeth of the lion, do not think that the lion is smiling at you.
Al-Mutanabbi
I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people.
George Bernard Shaw
Don’t ask me who’s influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested, and I’ve been reading all my life.
Charles De Gaulle
After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring.
He kept it up until a hunter came along and got him… The moral: When you’re full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
Will Rogers
The lion and the calf shall lie down together but the calf won’t get much sleep.
Woody Allen
I’ve got a friend who is a lion tamer. He used to be a school teacher till he lost his nerve.
Les Dawson
Some people lose all respect for the lion unless he devours them instantly. There is no pleasing some people.
Will Cuppy
7. Short lion quotes (use for Instagram and WhatsApp status)
The lion in you never retreats.
Proverb
A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested.
George Seferis
A lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing.
William Shakespeare
A hungry lion does not stay hungry long.
Unknown
My soul is among lions.
The Bible
A lion does not flinch at laughter coming from a hyena.
Suzy Kassem
A lion runs the fastest when he is hungry.
Salman Khan
I am bold as a lion.
Lailah Gifty Akita
A lion controls his jungle.
John Daly
Lions make leopards tame.
William Shakespeare
I would rather be the tail of a lion than the head of a mouse.
Daddy Yankee
A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinion of a sheep.
Unknown
8. Famous lion quotes
That’s a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.
William Shakespeare
An army of asses led by a lion is vastly superior to an army of lions led by an ass.
George Washington
There are many statues of men slaying lions, but if only the lions were sculptors there might be quite a different set of statues.
Aesop
Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.
Elizabeth I
A group of donkeys lead by a lion can defeat a group of lions lead by a donkey.
Socrates
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
At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all.
Baltasar Gracian
The creation of freedom for oneself and a sacred “No” even to duty — for that, my brothers, the lion is needed.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nature only shows us the tail of the lion. I am convinced, however, that the lion is attached to it, even though he cannot reveal himself directly because of his enormous size.
Albert Einstein
Lion quotes from movies and TV
The Lion King
See, I told you having a lion on our side wasn’t such a bad idea.
Timon, The Lion King
Game of Thrones
A lion doesn’t concern itself with the opinion of sheep.
George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Wizard of Oz
I’m afraid there’s no denyin’
I’m just a dandy-lion
A fate I don’t deserve
I’m sure I could show my prowess
Be a lion, not a mouse
If I only had the nerve.
Cowardly Lion, Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
Courage – What makes the flag on the mast to wave? What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the “ape” in apricot?
Cowardly Lion, Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
“It’s a mystery,” replied the Lion. “I suppose I was born that way. All the other animals in the forest naturally expect me to be brave, for the Lion is everywhere thought to be the King of Beasts. I learned that if I roared very loudly every living thing was frightened and got out of my way.”
Cowardly Lion, Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
From books and literature
You mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.
Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
So the lion is the law-breaker. Just as to the primitive man the lion is the lawbreaker, the great nuisance, dangerous to human beings and to animals, that breaks into the Kraal at night and fetches the bull out of the herd: he is the destructive instinct.
Carl Jung, The Seminars
From famous authors
The blood more stirs To rouse a lion than to start a hare.
William Shakespeare
A rug feels like a lion, but that doesn’t mean you can ride it.
Lemony Snicket
An observer of men who finds himself steadily repelled by some apparently trifling thing in a stranger is right to give it great weight. It may be the clue to the whole mystery. A hair or two will show where a lion is hidden. A very little key will open a very heavy door.
Charles Dickens
Thou wear a lion’s hide! Doff it for shame, and hang a calfskin on those recreant limbs.
William Shakespeare
From poetry
Oh Lion in a peculiar guise,
Sharp Roman road to Paradise,
Come eat me up, I’ll pay thy toll
With all my flesh, and keep my soul.
Stevie Smith
It’s time to make love, douse the glim;
The fireflies twinkle and dim;
The stars lean together Like birds of a feather,
And the loin lies down with the limb.
Conrad Aiken
9. Famous lion proverbs
Not all that have claws are lions.
Swahili proverb
Better be a tail for the lions than the head of the foxes.
Hebraic proverb
The lion doesn’t turn around when the small dog barks.
African proverb
A lion sleeps in the heart of every brave man.
Turkish proverb
Lions in time of peace; deer in war.
Italian proverb
A dog will always be a dog, even if he is raised by lions.
Lebanese proverb
Every dog is a lion at home.
Italian proverb
No matter the economy of the jungle, the lion will never eat grass.
African proverb
If you see the fangs of the lions, don’t think the lion is smiling.
Arabic proverb
Do not try to fight a lion if you are not one yourself.
African proverb
Knowledge is like a lion; it cannot be gently embraced.
South African proverb
Those who do not go to war roar like lions.
Kurdish proverb
Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
Zimbabwean proverb
Who is brave enough to tell the lion that his breath stinks?
Berber proverb
Lions at home, foxes abroad.
Roman proverb
Lions believe that everyone shares their state of mind.
Mexican proverb
The friendship of the great is fraternity with lions.
Italian proverb
An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.
Latin proverb
Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify their historians.
Azerbaijani proverb
Thanks for reading these lion quotes and sayings. Be sure to check out these other animal quote lists:
By Greg Johnson | Published 1/24/2022
