85 Dragon Quotes

In the vast realms of mythology, literature, and popular culture, dragons have always held a captivating allure. These legendary creatures, often depicted as powerful, wise, and sometimes terrifying beings, have inspired countless tales and symbols throughout human history. Whether they embody our deepest fears or represent the pinnacle of strength and wisdom, dragons continue to ignite our imaginations in profound ways. In this post, we've compiled a curated collection of the top 85 dragon quotes, offering insights and reflections from various sources that celebrate the mystique and grandeur of these mythical beasts. Dive in and let these quotes transport you to fantastical worlds where dragons reign supreme.

1. “I do not care what comes after; I have seen the dragons on the wind of morning.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

2. “The dragonets found the carpenters to be even more fascinating than the furniture, and followed the poor men from pen to pen, crowding around to watch, tasting the wooden planks, trying to steal the tools. It made for an interesting day for everyone, as the boys tried to keep the dragonets away from the carpenters, and the dragonets tried to get at the carpenters, and the carpenters worked probably a great deal faster than they ever had in their lives, sure that the dragonets would go from tasting the wood to tasting them. ” - Mercedes Lackey

3. “I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?” - John Lennon

4. “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” - Neil Gaiman

5. “Never laugh at live dragons.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

6. “I will see you bereft of all that you have, of home and happiness and beautiful things. I will see your nation cast down and your allies drawn away. I will see you as alone and friendless and wretched as am I; and then you may live as long as you like, in some dark and lonely corner of the earth, and I shall call myself content. -Lien, Albino Celestial (Dragon) ” - Naomi Novik

7. “The gate is perfectly simple," Temeraire said. "There is only a bar across the fence, which one can lift very easily, and then it swings open; Nitidus could do it best, for his forehands are the smallest. Though it is difficult to keep the animals inside the pen, and the first time I learned how to open it, they all ran away," he added. "Maximus and I had to chase after them for hours and hours--it was not funny at all," he said, ruffled, sitting back on his haunches and contemplating Laurence with great indignation.” - Naomi Novik

8. “Always speak politely to an enraged dragon.” - Steven Brust

9. “Dragons and legends...It would have been difficult for any man not to want to fight beside a dragon.” - Patricia Briggs

10. “The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” - Gary Gygax

11. “Sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself.” - C.S. Lewis

12. “Saphira waved her tail, the tip whistling loudly. "I'm not asking you to. However, if we attack first, we may gain the advantage." "Have you gone crazy? They'll..." Eragon's voice trailed off as he thought about it. "They won't be able to do a thing." "Exactly," said Saphira. "We can inflict lots of damage from a safe height." "Let's drop rocks on them!” - Christopher Paolini

13. “This may be my only chance to see humans before these two are made into fertilizer for Moonwind's rosebushes.” - Tamora Pierce

14. “He had only heard of dragons, and although he had never seen one, he was sure they existed.” - Dee Marie

15. “But it is one thing to read about dragons and another to meet them.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

16. “And though I came to forget or regret all I have ever done, yet I would remember that once I saw the dragons aloft on the wind at sunset above the western isles; and I would be content.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

17. “They say dragons never truly die. No matter how many times you kill them.” - S.G. Rogers

18. “Serpentfire can burn for a very long time if the bagic is strong," said Aldric. "It's hard to handle, that kind of fire, it seems to have a mind of its own, but it can be a good tool if you have nothing else. You never, ever want to use it unless you need it. I keep it around in case of dire circumstances. I hate to admit that anything Serpentine can be useful." Absentmindedly he picked up a Dragon's claw from a pile of them on the tabe, and used it to stratch his neck.” - Jason Hightman

19. “Noble dragons don't have friends. The nearest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive.” - Terry Pratchett

20. “The morning was bright and propitious. Before their departure, mass had been said in the chapel, and the protection of St. Ignatius invoked against all contingent evils, but especially against bears, which, like the fiery dragons of old, seemed to cherish unconquerable hostility to the Holy Church. ("The Legend Of Monte Del Diablo").” - Bret Harte

21. “Above us, outlined against the brilliant sky, dragons crowded every available perching space on the Rim. And the sun made a gold of every one of them.” - Anne McCaffrey

22. “As Harry and Ron rounded the clump of trees behind which Harry had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them.It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them."Congratulations, Harry!' she said beaming at him. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How do you feel now about the fairness of the scoring?""Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Goodbye!” - J.K. Rowling

23. “How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloudshadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

24. “over protective? a butler in a grade- B movie? someones jewish mother? you got it” - Margaret Weis

25. “Someone needs to drag you kicking and screaming into this century.” - Christine Feehan

26. “If you see the dragon fly,best you drink the flagon dry.”—Zarost” - Greg Hamerton

27. “If you have ever seen a dragon in a pinch, you will realize that this was only poetical exaggeration applied to any hobbit, even to Old Took's great-grand-uncle Bullroarer, who was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

28. “It is because of its emptiness that the cup is useful.” - Carole Wilkinson

29. “Besides, if there were no dragons of flesh and blood and fire, whence would come the idea for these stone carvings?” - Robin Hobb

30. “Have I ever told you how glad I am we're not enemies? Eragon asked.No, but it's very sweet of you.” - Christopher Paolini

31. “My nightly craft is winged in white, a dragon of night dark sea.Swift born, dream bound and rudderless, her captain and crew are me.We've sailed a hundred sleeping tides where no seaman's ever beenAnd only my white-winged craft and I know the wonders we have seen.” - Anne McCaffrey

32. “You have the effrontery to be squeamish, it thought at him. But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape – the great face pressed even closer, so that Wonse was staring into the pitiless depths of his eyes – we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.” - Terry Pratchett

33. “I loved getting my M. B. A., and I really enjoyed being an accountant and financial analyst before I quit my day job twenty-five years ago to write full time. I just liked writing more…plus, I knew even then that as a full-time writer, I'd get plenty of chances to do business-type stuff, while as an accountant, I probably wouldn't get a lot of opportunities to write about dragons.” - Patricia C. Wrede

34. “Stories start in all sorts of places. Where they begin often tells the reader of what to expect as they progress. Castles often lead to dragons, country estates to deeds of deepest love (or of hate), and ambiguously presented settings usually lead to equally as ambiguous characters and plot, leaving a reader with an ambiguous feeling of disappointment. That's one of the worst kinds.” - Rebecca McKinsey

35. “Sanabalis never seemed to eat, and he deflected most of her questions about Dragon cuisine. Then again, he deflected most of her questions about Dragons, period. Which was annoying because he was one, and could in theory be authorative.” - Michelle Sagara West

36. “The townspeople took the prince for deadWhen he never returned with the dragon’s headWhen with her, he stayedShe thought he’d be too afraidBut he loved her too much instead.” - Jess C. Scott

37. “Small men oft feel a need to prove their courage with unseemly boasts," he declared. "I doubt if he could kill a duck."Tyrion shrugged. "Fetch the duck.” - George R.R. Martin

38. “Yes," Nicholas replied, in a bored voice. "The name is Dutch. Dragonwyck, meaning place of the dragon. It derives from an Indian legend about a flying serpent whose eyes were fire and whose flaming breath withered the corn." "Heavens!" With a light laugh, Miranda asked her new employer if the red men had sent forth a champion to do battle with the dragon.The patroon's face was dark, unsmiling. "To appease him the wise men of the tribe sacrificed a pure maiden on the rocky bluff you see above you."Miranda's laughter died. Something in Nicholas Van Ryn's cruel, handsome features made her imagine herself in the Indian maiden's place.” - Anya Seton

39. “Breathing in the scent of his hair, I realized I'd needed him my whole life, before we even met. First, his music and the way he taught me through books and recordings. Then, he saved my life and refused to abandon me no matter how much I deserved it.” - Jodi Meadows

40. “What is a fantasy map but a space beyond which There Be Dragons?” - Terry Pratchett

41. “Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” - G.K. Chesterton

42. “In the far reaches of the world, under a lost and lonely hill, lies the TOMB OF HORRORS. This labyrinthine crypt is filled with terrible traps, strange and ferocious monsters, rich and magical treasures, and somewhere within rests the evil DemiLich.” - Ernest Cline

43. “Here be dragons to be slain, here be rich rewards to gain;If we perish in the seeking, why, how small a thing is death!” - Dorothy L. Sayers

44. “Did not learned men, too, hold, till within the last twenty-five years, that a flying dragon was an impossible monster? And do we not now know that there are hundreds of them found fossil up and down the world? People call them Pterodactyles: but that is only because they are ashamed to call them flying dragons, after denying so long that flying dragons could exist.” - Charles Kingsley

45. “True Dragons are among the Universe's most perfect beings. This is a useful bit of information. Squirrel it away like a nugget of Fafnir's gold; take it out and burnish it now and then as we proceed.” - Shawn MacKENZIE

46. “That is a terrible plan.""Hiccup's plans are always t-terrible.""Hey! You're still here, aren't you?” - Cressida Cowell

47. “I cannot have a man who is afraid of everything, I don't have the time to soothe insecurities and fears, I cannot have a man who is standing on a stone by a creek, watching for the fish to swim by and every time he sees a fish he says "Oh look, this fish scares me, I wonder what this fish means, this fish might mean- this, or this fish might mean- that" for God's sake, they are just fish, and they don't mean anything! Such a sad thing, so many fine, strong men standing on top of little stones, pointing at fish all the time! Such a waste! Such a waste of time! I can only have a man who will leap into the water, not minding the damn fish and whatever other little things that scare him. I need to have someone who is braver than me; if I am a pirate, he has to be the pirate Captain, if I am a pirate Captain he has to be the flying dragon.” - C. JoyBell C.

48. “Imagine a land where people are afraid of dragons. It is a reasonable fear: dragons possess a number of qualities that make being afraid of them a very commendable response. Things like their terrible size, their ability to spout fire, or to crack boulders into splinters with their massive talons. In fact, the only terrifying quality that dragons do not possess is that of existence.Now, the people of this land know about dragons because their leaders have warned them about them. They tell stories about cruel dragons with razor teeth and fiery breath. They recount legends of dragons hunting by night on silent wings. In short, the leaders make sure that the people believe in all the qualities of dragons, including that key quality of existence. And then they control the people — when they need to — with their fear of dragons. The people pay a dragon-slaying tax … everyone stays indoors after dark to avoid being snatched by swooping claws … and nobody ever strays out of bounds for fear of being eaten well and truly up.Perhaps somebody will wonder if dragons aren’t, after all, fictitious because — despite their size — nobody seems to have actually seen one. And so it is necessary from time to time to provide evidence: a burnt tree or two, a splintered rock, the mysterious absence of a villager. The population is controlled by the dragons in its collective mind. It’s contrived superstition, and it is possible because the people do not know enough about the way the world works to know that dragons do not exist.” - David Whiteland

49. “And Annie showed me how ailanthus trees grow under subway and sewer gratings, stretching toward the sun, making shelter in the summer, she said, laughing, for the small dragons that live under the streets.” - Nancy Garden

50. “And what lesson can we draw from Volantene history?”“If you want to conquer the world, you best have dragons.” - George R.R. Martin

51. “If the sky could dream, it would dream of dragons.” - Ilona Andrews

52. “I know everything, you see,' the old voice wheedled. 'The beginning, the present, the end. Everything. You now, you see the past and the present, like other low creatures: no higher faculties than memory and perception. But dragons, my boy, have a whole different kind of mind.' He stretched his mouth in a kind of smile, no trace of pleasure in it. 'We are from the mountaintop: all time, all space. We see in one instant the passionate vision and the blowout.” - John Gardner

53. “If we only arrange our life in accordance with the principle which tells us that we must always trust in the difficult, then what now appears to us as the most alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience. How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

54. “One misspoken word and the world will no longer know you. Mark Andrew Ramsay” - Brendan Carroll

55. “Vampires were myths, childhood stories– as were werewolves, mermaids and dragons. I believed none of it.” - Ashley Madau

56. “His father had told him time and again never to underestimate the power of something that could kill you.” - C.J. Hill

57. “Now, I pray you, cast yourself into a different world, a different trail of thought; step into a place where dragons live and breathe, where they are as real in touch and voice as you or I. Where they face the same extinction every day that they have suffered in our world: the extinction of myth . . . yet where they battle every moment to fend off such a fate for another day . . .” - Alexis Steinhauer

58. “The idea of fairyland fascinates me because it's one of those things, like mermaids and dragons, that doesn't really exist, but everyone knows about it anyway. Fairyland lies only in the eye of the beholder who is usually a fabricator of fantasy. So what good is it, this enchanted, fickle land which in some tales bodes little good to humans and, in others, is the land of peace and perpetual summer where everyone longs to be? Perhaps it's just a glimpse of our deepest wishes and greatest fears, the farthest boundaries of our imaginations. We go there because we can; we come back because we must. What we see there becomes our tales.” - Patricia A. McKillip

59. “There are storm clouds before the storm, there are the living before the dead. I need a figurehead, a banner bearer who will announce my arrival to the world.” - Kevin Outlaw

60. “Hurricanes couldn’t remove you from my mind. You’re my world and I’m incapable of not loving you.” - Billie-Jo Williams

61. “Ah, I do so love this charmingly rustic, elvin kingdom!-Baozhai” - Mar Mai

62. “Dragons are notable for their lust for gold, not a bad quality taken in moderation. Dragons are immune to fire, obviously. All dragons are terrifically vain, indeed as to who is more vain, a dragon or an elf, I would not want to be the one to decide. Hint: an elf. A dragon should never be engaged in conversation as they are inveterate liars and tricksters, though if you're actually talking to a dragon, you're pretty much toast anyway. Never, ever call a dragon a worm, no matter how much they're asking for it.” - John Stephens

63. “As the dragon charged it released huge clouds of hissing steam through its nostrils. It was almost as if a gigantic teapot had gone mad.” - Heywood Broun

64. “Let's see," mused the dragon, "that doesn't tell us much, does it? What sort of a word is this? Is it an epithet, do you think?"Gawaine could do no more than nod."Why, of course," exclaimed the dragon, "reactionary Republican.” - Heywood Broun

65. “With the suggestion of a compromise Gawaine mustered up enough courage to speak."What will you do if I surrender?" he asked."Why, I'll eat you," said the dragon."And if I don't surrender?""I'll eat you just the same.” - Heywood Broun

66. “You can have all the wine and dragons that my money can buy. That’s what the old woman told me, and I listened.” - Darcy Windbloom

67. “He taunted me, "Pony boy, pony boy," because I liked ponies. Pony boy. He always came to vent his anger of dragons on me. They must really like us. They hide behind their Wasp Queen and pretend to hate us dragons, but in truth they love us. Why else would they bother with fucking us? That sentence probably turned you off. Thing is, I'm a very vulgar boy.-Chance Karrucci (the Sweet Dragon)” - Chanceus Karrucci

68. “I saw the last piece of innocence unfurl inside of her.-Nick Plato (from the story Platonick)” - Nipaporn Baldwin

69. “A man cannot deserve adventures; he cannot earn dragons and hippogriffs.” - G.K. Chesterton

70. “You are not wrong," Laurence said. He had assumed as much himself, after all, in his Navy days: had thought the Corps full of wild, devil-may-care libertines, disregarding law and authority as far as they dared, barely kept in check-- to be used for their control over the beasts, and not respected."But if we have more liberty than we ought," Laurence said, after a moment, struggling through, "it is because they have not enough: the dragons. They have no stake in victory but our happiness; their daily bread and nation would give them just to have peace and quiet. We are given licence so long as we do what we ought not; so long as we use their affections to keep them obedient and quiet, to ends which serve them not at all-- or which harm.""How else do you make them care?" Granby said. "If we left off, the French would only run right over us, and take our eggs themselves.""They care in China," Laurence said, "and in Africa, and they care all the more, that their rational sense is not imposed on, and their hearts put into opposition with their minds. If they cannot be woken to a natural affection for their country, such as we feel, it is our fault, and not theirs.” - Naomi Novik

71. “Here’s something I bet you don’t know: every time someone writes a story about a dragon a real dragon dies. Something about seeing and being seen something about mirrors that old tune about how a photograph can take your whole soul. At the end of this poem I’m going to go out like electricity in an ice storm. I’ve made peace with it.” - Catherynne M. Valente

72. “Sir James waved a gnarled hand. "They're nothing but feral file clerks, dragons. They used to alphabetize the coins in their hoards.” - Rachel Hartman

73. “Orma moved a pile of books off a stool for me but seated himself directly on another stack. This habit of his never ceased to amuse me. Dragons no longer hoarded gold; Comonot's reforms had outlawed it. For Orma and his generation, knowledge was treasure. As dragons through the ages had done, he gathered it and then he sat on it.” - Rachel Hartman

74. “Now then," he mused, "how does one fly a dragon?” - Nicole Sager

75. “We men dream dreams, we work magic, we do good, we do evil. The dragons do not dream. They are dreams. They do not work magic: it is their substance, their being. They do not do; they are.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

76. “She slept a dreamless sleep free of dragons for she had slain them once again. The Children of Ankh ” - Kim Cormack

77. “But how can we know that dragons did not exist? We have never actually BEEN to the Dark Ages.” - Cressida Cowell

78. “She had no time for sleep, with the weight of the world upon her shoulders. And she feared to dream. Sleep is a little death, dreams the whisperings of the Other, who would drag us all into his eternal night.” - George R.R. Martin

79. “He couldn't take his eye off that dragonThere was something odd about the swaying of his tail...he watched his curved and voluptuous reptilian legs move with grace......its stare was docile and...loving...He wanted that creatureHe wanted him all to himselfHe slapped his forehead, "Get ahold of yourself, George. It's a dragon!"He couldn't hold himselfHe followed the dragon-shifter into its caveFrom Lonely George and the Dragon God, a standalone story deriving from the universe built in Dragons and Cicadas.” - L'Poni Baldwin

80. “When he removed his robes, you could see the hundreds of scars and bruises that shamelessly decorated his body. Huge black bruises, long scars that came from sword lacerations and whips and new wounds that bled fresh red blood.The Dragonboy's father had no idea his son suffered. That's because the boy never told.From The Binding, a story from the upcoming tenth update of Dragons and Cicadas” - L'Poni Baldwin

81. “I don’t want to kill you, but I must. For the good of the country.” - Kyra Dune

82. “But most dragons seem to have interesting personalities--besides probably having quite good reasons for what they do, if only one could understand them” - Diana Wynne Jones

83. “...we lay there in the dark for a split second before the beast galumphed toward us. Meabh, always quick with a sword, sprang to her feet and charged the dragon head-on while I mostly just wondered who or what I'd offended in a past life that this one was peopled by dragons. Except I didn't have any past lives, so apparently I'd offended somebody in this life and was facing instant karma. That didn't really improve anything, in my ever so humble opinion.” - C.E. Murphy

84. “I told you there was no such thing as immortality, not even for dragons.” - Stanley S. Thornton

85. “But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.” - Terry Pratchett