Caterpillar Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old caterpillar quotes, caterpillar sayings, and caterpillar proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

It is all too common for caterpillars to become butterflies and then to maintain that in their youth they had been little butterflies. Maturation makes liars of us all. George E. Vaillant
A caterpillar builds a coffin, a butterfly remembers a cocoon Pochassic
As the caterpillar undergoes transformation within the cocoon before emerging as a butterfly; likewise, life experiences shape character. Lorna Jackie Wilson
When a caterpillar spins its cocoon, it goes through a transformative process and then emerges as a butterfly. Similarly, when we go through a practice of meditation and prayer, we loosen our egoic grip on a sense of self that is separate from the Whole and become vehicles of the emergent evolutionary paradigm of love, peace , compassion, wisdom, harmony and oneness that seeks expression on the planet. Michael Beckwith
A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly. Andre Gide
Just when the caterpillar thought “I am incapable of moving,” it became a butterfly. Annette Thomas
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly. R. Buckminster Fuller
As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys. William Blake
Adding wings to caterpillars does not create butterflies. It creates awkward and dysfunctional caterpillars. Butterflies are created through transformation. Stephanie Pace Marshall
If a caterpillar doesn't know its future has wings, it hardly experiences itself as land-bound. Robert Kagan
Why do the caterpillar and the ant have to be enemies? One eats leaves, and the other eats caterpillars. Oh, I see now. Jack Handey
Caterpillar sheds it's skin to find a butterfly within. Donovan
When a caterpillar bursts from its cocoon and discovers it has wings, it does not sit idly, hoping to one day turn back. It flies. Kelseyleigh Reber
It is in being the caterpillar that you become the butterfly. John Harricharan
In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with human beings it is the other way round: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar. Anton Chekhov
As the caterpillar undergoes transformation and emerges as a butterfly; likewise, character undergoes transformation through experiences, aspirations and beliefs. How will you emerge? Lorna Jackie Wilson
The caterpillar dies so the butterfly could be born. And, yet, the caterpillar lives in the butterfly and they are but one. So, when I die, it will be that I have been transformed from the caterpillar of earth to the butterfly of the universe. John Harricharan
When a caterpillar looks in the mirror, he sees a butterfly.  Matshona Dhliwayo
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, she became a butterfly. Barbara Haines Howett
Caterpillars are nature's own vegetarians. Anthony T. Hincks
Everybody knows what a caterpillar is, and it doesn't look anything like a butterfly. Lynn Margulis
The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity. George Carlin
We are like caterpillars contemplating pupation. Terence McKenna
We kill all the caterpillars, then complain there are no butterflies. John Marsden
Caterpillars can fly, if they just lighten up. Scott J. Simmerman Ph.D.
A caterpillar must endure a season of isolation before it turns into a butterfly. Embrace the time you have alone, it will only make you stronger. Steven Aitchison
Why is a caterpillar wrapped in silk while it changes into a butterfly? So the other caterpillars can't hear the screams. Change hurts Rory Miller
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly. Richard Bach
The Caterpillar cannot understand the butterfly. Timothy Leary
The caterpillar turns to liquid before turning into a butterfly. Liquid. Thus washing away any speck of his caterpillar self as he lies completely vulnerable to his environment in his chrysalis shell. One good solid gust of wind and the caterpillars boned. The Hippie