The Public Domain Review

Of The Unicorn

Unicorns have inspired many glorious stories and pithy musings. It's no surprise! Elusive beauty and inspiration are at the core of unicorn legends.  The history, myth, and current cultural zeitgeist around unicorns are truly amazing.

We are having a unicorn moment. But it's nothing new. Cultures around the globe have been telling stories about unicorns for hundreds of years. No wonder people have said so many diverse and diverting things about unicorns!

Without further ado, here's a selection of some of our favorite unicorn quotes!

“Now I will believe that there are unicorns…”
-William Shakespeare; The Tempest

“Unicorn. Old French, unicorne. Latin, unicornis. Literally, one-horned: unus, one and cornu, a horn. A fabulous animal resembling a horse with one horn.”
-Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

“The unicorns were the most recognizable magic the fairies possessed, and they sent them to those worlds where belief in the magic was in danger of falling altogether. After all, there has to be some belief in magic- however small- for any world to survive.”
-Terry Brooks, The Black Unicorn

“Someone told me I live in a fantasy world. I almost fell off my unicorn!’
-Unknown

“There is something about riding a unicorn, for those who still can, which is unlike any other experience: exhilarating, and intoxicating, and fine.”
-Neil Gaiman

“Be a unicorn in a field full of horses.”
-Unknown

“THE UNICORN: The saintly hermit, midway through his prayers
stopped suddenly, and raised his eyes to witness
the unbelievable: for there before him stood
the legendary creature, startling white, that
had approached, soundlessly, pleading with his eyes.

The legs, so delicately shaped, balanced a
body wrought of finest ivory. And as
he moved, his coat shone like reflected moonlight.
High on his forehead rose the magic horn, the sign
of his uniqueness: a tower held upright
by his alert, yet gentle, timid gait.

The mouth of softest tints of rose and grey, when
opened slightly, revealed his gleaming teeth,
whiter than snow. The nostrils quivered faintly:
he sought to quench his thirst, to rest and find repose.
His eyes looked far beyond the saint's enclosure,
reflecting vistas and events long vanished,
and closed the circle of this ancient mystic legend.”
-Rainer Maria Rilke

“Always be yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn, then be a unicorn.”
-Unknown

“I’ve never really understood,” the unicorn mused as the man picked himself up, “what you dream of doing with me, once you’ve caught me.” The man leaped again, and she slipped away from him like rain. “I don’t think you know yourselves,” she said.”
-Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

“It’s not a unicorn, it’s a horse with a sword on its head that protects my hopes and dreams!”
-Dr. J.D. Dorian, Scrubs TV Show

“I thought unicorns were more . . . Fluffy.”
-Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

“I’ll be loved for the firefly in my soul
I’ll be loved for the fire that fills my eyes
I’ll be loved for the unicorn I am
I’ll be loved ‘cause I’m enough
I’ll be loved ‘cause I’m whole
So, I gear myself today
To love me a little bit more.
-Kef Amaya

“Make your life story so amazing that unicorns have trouble believing it is true.”
-Karen Salmansohn

“There was no violence, no speed. It moved to the rhythm of an elder dance, putting all the rituals of the world to shame. Black, silver, gold and moon-opal, night and sea, fire, earth, air and water.”
-Tanith Lee; Black Unicorn

“‘Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!’
‘Well, now that we have seen each other,’ said the unicorn, ‘if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.'”
-Lewis Carroll; Through the Looking Glass

“The unicorn legend is different from most superstitions in that it has lasted longer and has been shared by the most enlightened minds of all nations.”
-Andrea Bacci, 16th century Italian botanist, zoologist, and physician

“Nothing is more magical. As long as unicorns roam the earth nothing can harm the pure of heart.”
-Legend 1985

“The unicorn was white, with hoofs of silver and graceful horn of pearl….The glorious thing about him was his eye. There was a faint bluish furrow down each side of his nose, and this led to the eye sockets, and surrounded them in a pensive shade. The eyes, circled by this sad and beautiful darkness, were so sorrowful, lonely, gentle and nobly tragic, that they killed all other emotions except love.”
-T. H. White, The Once and Future King