#toad

Toad talked big about all he was going to do in the days to come, while stars grew fuller and larger all around them, and a yellow moon, appearing suddenly and silently from nowhere in particular, came to keep them company and listen to their talk. ↗

— Kenneth Grahame

#appearing #around #big #came #come

Occasionally they would hear a harsh croak or a splash as some amphibian was disturbed, but the only creature they saw was a toad as big as Will's foot, which could only flop in a pain-filled sideways heave as if it were horribly injured. It lay across the path, trying to move out of the way and looking at them as if it knew they meant to hurt it. 'It would be merciful to kill it,' said Tialys. 'How do you know?' said Lyra. 'It might still like being alive, in spite of everything.' 'If we killed it, we'd be taking it with us,' said Will. 'It wants to stay here. I've killed enough living things. Even a filthy stagnant pool might be better than being dead.' 'But if it's in pain?' said Tialys. 'If it could tell us, we'd know. But since it can't, I'm not going to kill it. That would be considering our feelings rather than the toad's.' They moved on. ↗

— Philip Pullman

#death #killing #toads #death

Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#head #his #jewel #like #precious

Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads. ↗

— Marianne Moore

#art #creating #gardens #imaginary #real

It rained toads the day the White Council came to town. ↗

— Jim Butcher

#magic #rain #toads #humor

If God had wanted us to be concerned for the plight of the toads, he would have made them cute and furry. ↗