“There were no lions any more. There had been lions once. Sometimes in the shimmer of the heat on the plains the motion of their running still flickered on the dry wind — tawny, great, and quickly gone. Sometimes the honey-colored moon shivered to the silence of a ghost-roar on the rising air.”

“In the wind, the trees, like agitated lions preparing to roar, shook their great green manes.”

“He feels the need to hear a human voice—a fully human voice like his own. Sometimes he laughs like a hyena or roars like a lion—his idea of a hyena his idea of a lion.”

“An injured lion wants to know if he can still roar.”

“Said the lion to the lioness - "when you are amber dust - No more a raging fire like the heat of the sun(no liking but all lust) - Remember still the flowering of the amber bloodand bone,the rippling of bright muscles likea sea,Remember the rose-prickles of bright pawsThough we shall mate no moreTill the fire of that sun and the moon - Cold bone are one"Said the skeleton lying upon thesands of time - "The great gold planet thatis the mourning heatof the sunIs greater than all gold, more powerfulThan the tawny body of a lion that fireconsumesLike all that grows or leaps...sois the heart.More powerful than all dust. OnceI was herculesOr Samson, strong as the pillars of theseas:But the flames of the heartConsumed me, andthe mindIs but a foolish wind.”

“I faced the "dead lion" courageously but will definitely run if I meet a roaring one...”