140 Tiger Quotes That Will Tame the Beast in You

No matter what your goal is, these tiger quotes will help you stay focused and give you the determination to work hard and succeed in life.

So, if you need that little push to get you started or just curious about tigers, then this collection might just be the perfect fit.

The tiger is part of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. And because of its prowess and ferociousness, it’s been dubbed to be the spirit animal that symbolizes courage, personal strength, and will power.

Tiger Quotes That Will Tame the Beast in You

Get to know more about the tiger through the list below.

And don’t forget to check out these snake quotes.

Best Tiger Quotes

1. “The tiger will see you a hundred times before you see him once.” – John Vaillant

2. “The most magnificent creature in the entire world, the tiger is.” – Jack Hanna

3. “There is nothing like the thrill of walking through the jungle looking for a tiger and knowing they could be watching you already.” – Ashlan Gorse Cousteau

4. “I’ve often felt that the Indian tiger has not been unleashed.” – Ratan Tata

5. “No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

6. “It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious.” – Henry David Thoreau

7. “The tiger’s world is not only amoral but peculiarly consequence-free, and this—the atavistic certainty that there is nothing more lethal than itself—is the apex predator’s greatest weakness.” – John Vaillant

8. “Wooing the press is an exercise roughly akin to picnicking with a tiger. You might enjoy the meal, but the tiger always eats last.” – Maureen Dawd

9. “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” – John F. Kennedy

Noteworthy Tiger Quotes

10. “If you rile a tiger, he’s going to show his claws.” – Rob James-Collier

11. “An infallible method of conciliating a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured.” – Konrad Adenauer

12. “Tiger tracks—follow them long enough and you will eventually arrive at a tiger unless the tiger arrives at you first.” – John Vaillant

13. “If we choose to walk into a forest where a tiger lives, we are taking a chance.” – Peter Benchley

14. “To say a tiger is an ‘outside’ animal is an understatement that is best appreciated when a tiger is inside.” – John Vaillant

15. “Unless you enter the tiger’s lair, you cannot get hold of the tiger’s cubs.” – Sun Tzu

16. “Now I was a tiger that neither pounced nor lay waiting between the trees. I became an unseen spirit.” – Amy Tan

17. “An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.” – Confucius

18. “When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die.” – Gichin Funakoshi

19. “Appeasers believe that if you keep on throwing steaks to a tiger, the tiger will become a vegetarian.” – Heywood Broun

20. “Tigers, except when wounded or when man-eaters, are on the whole very good-tempered.” – Jim Corbett

21. “Most cats don’t like water, and despite her pretensions of tigerhood, Julie was no different. Yes, tigers have stripes; so do tabbies. If you want to know the difference, try tossing one of each into your swimming pool. Then I would recommend running.” – Seanan McGuire

22. “If a tiger can poach on another’s territory, it probably will, and so, of course, will we. A key difference, however, is that tigers only take what they need.” – John Vaillant

23. “Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!” – L. Frank Baum

24. “The strong creation created by God in the world is not the lion, not the elephant, not the tiger—the girl.” – Arunachalam Muruganantham

Also read: Bear Quotes

Tiger Quotes That Will Make You Believe In Their Majesty

25. “Animal totems, like the tiger, come from the other side to protect us while we are away from home.” – Sylvia Browne

26. “The tiger springs in the new year. Us he devours.” – T.S. Eliot

27. “Tigers and women have something in common, it is their disposition; they must be treated majestically.” – Henrietta Newton Martin

28. “If tigers could write books, they would say that man was created for them and that man is the most sinful animal because he does not allow him to catch him easily.” – Swami Vivekananda

29. “One may ride upon a tiger’s back but it is fatal to dismount.” – Ernest Bramah

30. “Do not blame God for having created the tiger, but thank Him for not having given it wings.” – Ethiopian Proverb

31. “Occasionally, a tiger will object to too close an approach to its cubs or to a kill that it is guarding. The objection invariably takes the form of growling, and if this does not prove effective is followed by short rushes accompanied by terrifying roars. If these warnings are disregarded, the blame for any injury inflicted rests entirely with the intruder.” – Jim Corbett

32. “Everything is connected. Protecting the tiger will protect every species of animal and plant that shares its habitat. The trees that scrub pollution from the air and the rivers that supply water to every living thing.” – Katy Yocom

33. “A tiger does not ignore or slight any small animal. The way he catches a mouse and catches and devours a cow are the same.” – Shunryu Suzuki

34. “I like to be a tiger roaming the jungle or an eagle soaring the skies.” – Sol Campbell

Also read: Eagle Quotes, Owl Quotes

Famous Tiger Quotes

35. “There has to be absolute trust between the tiger and its master, but its master must be the master—there must be no mistake about that.” – Ridley Scott

36. “The tiger is a bellwether—one of the thousands of similarly vulnerable species, which are, at once, casualties of our success and symbols of our failure.” – John Vaillant

37. “The tiger is humbled by memories of prey.” – Steve Erickson

38. “The long-run is what puts the tiger in the cat.” – Bill Squires

39. “Nothing exists now but the tiger, filling his field of vision like a bad accident, like the end of the world—a pair of blazing yellow lanterns over a temple door framed with ivory columns.” – John Vaillant

40. “When the time comes, let loose a tiger and a devil; but wait for the time with the tiger and the devil chained—not shown, yet always ready.” – Charles Dickens

41. “God made the cat to give man the pleasure of stroking a tiger.” – John Gardner

42. “Every woman should have four pets in her life—a mink in her closet, a jaguar in her garage, a tiger in her bed, and a jackass who pays for everything.” – Paris Hilton

43. “I bleed blue. I love being a Tiger and love being back here in Memphis.” – Stephen Gostkowski

44. “Tough toenails, tiger. What you want and what you get are usually two entirely different things.” – Nicholas Sparks

Also read: Tiger King Quotes

Tiger Quotes on Life and Strength

45. “Life goes on and you don’t touch tigers.” – Yann Martel

46. “O, tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide!” – William Shakespeare

47. “Time is the tiger that devours me, but I am that tiger.” – Jorge Luis Borges

48. “I never try to make a painting, but a chunk of life. It is a scream; it is a night; it is like a child; it is a tiger behind bars.” – Karel Appel

49. “Then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.” – William Shakespeare

50. “Our noblest hopes grow teeth and pursue us like tigers.” – John Gardner

51. “Better to live one year as a tiger, then a hundred as sheep.” – Madonna

52. “Life is a tiger you have to grab by the tail, and if you don’t know the nature of the beast, it will eat you up.” – Stephen King

53. “The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenceless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenceless against ourselves.” – Arnold J. Toynbee

54. “God is in the tiger as well as in the lamb.” – John Updike

Also read: Quotes to Live By

Tiger Quotes on Their Prowess and Ferociousness

55. “There is no off switch on a tiger.” – German Proverb

56. “The shadows of twilight grow, and the tiger’s ancient fierceness in my veins begins to flow.” – William Wetmore Story

57. “I’ve read that a tiger’s not dangerous. They say the tiger won’t attack, but one thing’s not clear to me. Has he read this, too? Does he know?” – John Vaillant

58. “A wounded tiger is a dangerous beast.” – Arthur Golden

59. “Tiger watches and hunts; whereas, hyenas wait and wait, for their time, to reach rubbish left by the tiger; similarly, the fools wait, not the wise ones.” – Ehsan Segal

60. “Even after killing ninety-nine tigers, the Maharaja should beware of the hundredth.” – Kalki Krishnamurthy

61. “A tiger can smile, a snake will say it loves you. Lies make us evil.” – Chuck Palahniuk

62. “Great white tiger, your duty is to protect the prince. But how can you do that if they sink the end of a spear into your heart?” – Danielle Raver

63. “When I see the expression ‘as cruel as a tiger’ and ‘as bloodthirsty as a tiger’ in print, I think of a small boy armed with an old muzzle-loading gun.” – Jim Corbett

64. “You don’t see sick animals in the wild. You don’t see lame animals in the wild, and it’s all because of the predator—the lion, the tiger, the leopard, all the cats.” – Tippi Hedren

Also read: Leopard Quotes, Animal Quotes

Tiger Quotes to Ponder On

65. “We think of tigers as being ferocious, but to my mind, it was the other way around—the humans embodied certain animal traits.” – Yann Martel

66. “You may, if you like, free a tiger from his bars; but do not free him from his stripes.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton

67. “We would be better off thinking of nature as a tiger than as a docile and compliant automaton that can never threaten our survival.” – Bruno Latour

68. “The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.” – William Blake

69. “The tiger will never lie down with the lamb; he acknowledges no pact that is not reciprocal. The lamb must learn to run with the tigers.” – Angela Carter

70. “It is not a language like Russian or Chinese, but it is a language nonetheless, and it is older than the forest. The crows speak it; the dog speaks it; the tiger speaks it, and so do the men—some more fluently than others.” – John Vaillant

71. “I love the ambiguous kind of endings. I think, oftentimes, that’s what life really is—there’s no concrete path for you to take. It’s always kind of a jumble of variables. Behind this door could be a beautiful woman, and behind the same door could be a tiger, you know? You don’t know.” – Joe Carnahan

72. “When I work, I am pure as an angel tiger and clear is my eye and hot my brain and silent all the whining grunting piglets of the appetites.” – Marge Piercy

73. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” – Amelia Earhart

74. “You know, tigers are very unpredictable.” – Suraj Sharma

Also read: Crow Quotes

Meaningful Tiger Quotes

75. “A writer’s promise is like a tiger’s smile.” – Lytton Strachey

76. “A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts.” – Woyle Soyinka

77. “To beat a tiger, one must have a brother’s help.” – Chinese Proverb

78. “Few things are less comforting than a tiger who’s up too late.” – Bill Waterson

79. “I don’t like sleeping in the dark jungle by myself.” – Colleen Doran

80. “I dream of nights and girls like tigers—claws and teeth on both.” – Elisabeth Hewer

81. “The Bengal tiger always has his tail up, ready to devour the opposition.” – Navjot Singh Sidhu

82. “The tiger lies low not from fear, but for aim.”– Sherrilyn Kenyon

83. “Tiger father begets tiger son.” – Chinese Proverb

84. “A tiger only needs three things to be comfortable. Lots of food, sleep, and—actually, no it’s just those two things.” – Colleen Houck

85. “A tiger keeps no friends. It’s too dangerous.” – Aravind Adiga

86. “In me, the tiger sniffs the rose.” – Siegfried Sassoon

87. “The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool—these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.” – Chanakya

88. “Many people together won’t fear a tiger, and many dogs together won’t fear a wolf.” – John S. Rohsenow

89. “No bird flies near, no tiger creeps; alone the whirlwind, wild and black, assails the tree of death and sweeps away with death upon its back.” – Alexander Pushkin

Also read: Bird Quotes

Tiger Quotes That Describe Who You Are

90. “Certain people have the eye of the tiger, and I never was myself that kind of person, although I’m not a slacker.” – Britta Phillips

91. “A good writer can watch a cat pad across the street and know what it is to be pounced upon by a Bengal tiger.” – John le Carre

92. “If your mind becomes calm, you can think in front of a tiger. If you can think in front of a tiger, you will surely succeed.” – Mencius

93. “When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it a sport. When a tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity.” – George Bernand Shaw

94. “It is far better to live like a tiger for a day than to live like a jackal for a hundred years.” – Benito Mussolini.

95. “I feel like a tiger right now. There’s nothing impossible if you get up and work for it.” – Michael Flatley

96. “We are all a tiger with feelings. An elephant who never forgets. We are tiger, panther, monkey—we are all of these things, all of the life rhythms.” – Ruby Dee

97. “I once knew a girl who loved tigers so much, she almost became one herself.” – Téa Obreht

98. “I was a little tiger. I loved skating. You couldn’t get me out of my skates. As many times as I could go to the rink, I was there.” – Tonya Harding

99. “I was a tiger, a good fighter, in good shape, but I was always nervous before boxing matches.” – George Foreman

100. “Apparently, I used to bite, scratch, and growl at people when I was young, so my parents named me ‘Tiger.’” – Tiger Shroff

101. “But I’m the child of a tiger mom.” – Lisa Joy

102. “I just wasn’t cut out to be a Chinese Tiger Mom. I’m more of an Irish Setter Dad.” – P. J. O’Rourke

103. “I definitely have the eye of the tiger. I’ve fought my way to where I am and will continue to do so. I’m a hard worker—I get it from my family. We only know work. Nothing was handed to us. When I believe in something, I go after it. It’s very hard to tell me ‘no.’” – Nicole Scherzinger

104. “I have both English bulldog determination and Bengal tiger strength.” – Bikram Choudhury

Philosophical Quotes About Tigers

105. “A tiger never returns to his prey he did not finish off.” – Chinese Proverb

106. “No one can walk beneath palm trees with impunity, and ideas are sure to change in a land where tigers are at home.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

107. “Don’t be a tiger’s head with a snake’s tail.” – Chinese Proverb

108. “A tiger never loses sleep over the opinion of sheep.” – Ziad K. Abdelnour

109. “In waking a tiger, use a long stick.” – Mao Zedong

110. “Sit atop the mountain and watch the tigers fight.” – Chinese Proverb

111. “A samurai will use a toothpick even though he has not eaten. Inside the skin of a dog, outside the hide of a tiger.” – Yamamoto Tsunetomo

112. “He who rides the tiger finds it difficult to dismount.” – Chinese Proverb

113. “Tigers are more beautiful than sheep, but we prefer them behind bars. The typical romantic removes the bars and enjoys the magnificent leaps with which the tiger annihilates the sheep. He exhorts men to imagine themselves as tigers, and when he succeeds the results are not wholly pleasant.” – Bertrand Russel

114. “The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency—half tiger, half poet.” – Yehudi Menuhin

Funny Tiger Quotes

115. “I call myself a blind man riding on a blind tiger.” – Jack Ma

116. “There can be no real fight between a tiger and a chicken; between the love and the man; between the strong and the weak!” – Mehmet Murat İldan

117. “There can be no more positive neutrality than there can be a vegetarian tiger.” – V.K. Krishna Menon

118. “Being a president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or he is swallowed.” – Harry S. Truman

119. “Just like a kitten that thinks it’s a tiger.” – Stephenie Meyer

120. “Some days you tame the tiger, and some days the tiger has you for lunch.” – Tug McGraw

121. “If you want to kick the tiger in his back, you’d better have a plan for dealing with his teeth.” – Tom Clancy

122. “Truly men hate the truth; they’d rather meet a tiger on the road.” – Robinson Jeffers

123. “Young normal tigers do not eat people. If eaten by a tiger, you may rest assured he was abnormal.” – Will Cuppy

124. “Tigers go by several different names here, and one of them is Toyota—because during the 1990s, that is what you could buy with one.” – John Vaillant

125. “The impact of an attacking tiger can be compared to that of a piano falling on you from a second-story window.” – John Vaillant

126. “Everyone needs a dog to adore him, and a tiger to bring him back to reality.” – Anonymous

127. “If you’re losing a tug of war with a tiger, give it the rope. You can always buy a new one.” – Max Gunther

128. “Van Gogh would’ve sold more than one painting if he’d put tigers in them.” – Bill Waterson

129. “Roaring like a tiger turns some children into pianists who debut at Carnegie Hall but only crushes others. Coddling gives some the excuse to fail and others the chance to succeed.” – Aylet Waldman

More Quotes About Tigers

130. “In my earliest memory, my grandfather is bald as a stone and he takes me to see the tigers.” – Téa Obreht

131. “We have a lion, tiger, liger—the father is a lion and the mother is a tiger, black and spotted leopard, mountain lion, Asian leopard cats. We’ve got a tremendous number of the exotic felines.” – Tippi Hedren

132. “Panthera tigris and Homo sapiens are actually very much alike, and we are drawn to many of the same things, if for slightly different reasons. Both of us demand large territories; both of us have prodigious appetites for meat; both of us require control over our living space and are prepared to defend it, and both of us have an enormous sense of entitlement to the resources around us.” – John Vaillant

133. “The passenger pigeon, the golden toad, the Caspian tiger—they are all gone, and other species hang by a thread. Our actions are not merely driving other species to extinction: we threaten our own survival, too, by destabilising ecosystems and destroying biodiversity.” – Owen Jones

134. “My mom named me Pom because she said it sounded like a combination of Korean words that mean ‘spring’ and ‘tiger.’ So, it’s very unique!” – Pom Klementieff

135. “‘The Tiger And The Snow’ is a beautiful movie. I am in love with this idea.” – Roberto Benigni

136. “I love a wild animal print. Not just a leopard print—I’m talking about a tiger or zebra print, too.” – Tan France

137. “Tiger parenting is all about raising independent, creative, courageous kids. In America today, there’s a dangerous tendency to romanticize creativity in a way that may undermine it.” – Amy Chua

138. “Great numbers of Asian Americans do not fit the model minority or ‘tiger family’ stereotypes, living instead in multigenerational poverty far from the mainstream.” – Eric Liu

139. “Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.” – Winston Churchill

140. “I have a different constitution. I have a different brain; I have a different heart; I got tiger blood, man.” – Charlie Sheen

Also read: Cow Quotes

Did These Quotes Make You Want to Gather Your Strength to Finish Your Hunt Toward Your Dreams?

Those who are born in the year of the tiger are lucky. They’re thought to be people who exude strength, charisma, strength, confidence, and competitiveness. The tiger is one of the most remarkable beasts in the wild because of its unique fur and intelligence.

And just like a tiger, we should strive to be as confident and brave as we can be. Let’s be bold, unstoppable, and aggressive when it comes to going for the kill—for our goals, dreams, and aspirations. We hope these qualities of the tiger inspire you to do your best, too, in your everyday life.

What’s your favorite animal? What lessons have you gathered from this collection? Comment them down below.

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.