“The elephants fight but the rats go about their business.”

Source: River of Gods (2006), Ch. 44 (p. 458).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The elephants fight but the rats go about their business." by Ian McDonald?
Ian McDonald photo
Ian McDonald 30
British science fiction novelist 1960

Related quotes

Rick Riordan photo
Will Cuppy photo
Ida B. Wells-Barnett photo

“one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap”

Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931) African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, early leader in the civil rights mo…
Thomas Jackson photo

“War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight.”

Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general

As quoted in Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War (1904) by George Francis Robert Henderson http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12233, Ch. 25 : The Soldier and the Man, p. 481
Context: War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight. Armies are not called out to dig trenches, to throw up breastworks, to live in camps, but to find the enemy and strike him; to invade his country, and do him all possible damage in the shortest possible time. This will involve great destruction of life and property while it lasts; but such a war will of necessity be of brief continuance, and so would be an economy of life and property in the end. To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of victory is the secret of successful war.

Margaret Atwood photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Larry Holmes photo

“When you constantly hear people talking about going the distance, going the distance, you can't help but wonder about it. I learned a lesson: next time I will fight my fight without that doubt.”

Larry Holmes (1949) American boxer

After the Cooney fight, as quoted in "Sport: Larry Holmes: I Still Have It" by Tom Callahan in TIME (21 June 1982) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925485-3,00.html.

Kate DiCamillo photo

Related topics