--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...dreadful birds, dressed in red with…" description: "\"...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush.\" — Hanna..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9f/hannah-kent-4646_animals_dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breas_2561638.jpg" --- # ...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver… ![“...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush.” quote by Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9f/hannah-kent-4646_animals_dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breas_2561638.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9f/hannah-kent-4646_animals_dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breas_2561638.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9f/hannah-kent-4646_animals_dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breas_2561638.jpg) > “...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush.” [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A vivid, unsettling image of birds that symbolize guilt and predation, highlighting how danger can appear alluring. **In simple terms:** Birds look beautiful but hide threat. Key Takeaway Beware appearances that hide harm. Themes guilt danger appearance predation symbolism Mood cautionary critical reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - political satire - media analysis - personal relationships - environmental observation Key Concepts literary imagery metaphor social critique Questions to Reflect On - What does the bird symbolize for you? - How do you recognize hidden threats? A Different Perspective The metaphor may overgeneralize guilt as external rather than internal. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Guilt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guilt/) [Red](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/red/) [Regret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/regret/) [Silver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silver/) ## Related quotes > [“Hvammur, during the trial, they plucked at my words like birds. Dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/hvammur-during-the-trial-they-plucked-at-my-words-like-birds-dreadful/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [All dressed up in red, shes killer, gonna knock em dead with her finger on the triger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reece-mastin/all-dressed-up-in-red-shes-killer-gonna-knock-em-dead-with-her-finger/) Reece Mastin > [“Back in what he was starting to think of as their cabinet, Miles encountered Ekaterin returning from the shower, dressed again in her red…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-mcmaster-bujold/back-in-what-he-was-starting-to-think-of-as-their-cabinet-miles/) [Lois McMaster Bujold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-mcmaster-bujold/) > [I love getting dressed up for red carpet events and having my hair and makeup done professionally - that definitely helps with nerves of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-ennis/i-love-getting-dressed-up-for-red-carpet-events-and-having-my-hair/) [Jessica Ennis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-ennis/) > [There is no family in America without a clock, and consequently there is no fair pretext for the usual Sunday medley of dreadful sounds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-no-family-in-america-without-a-clock-and-consequently-there/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“this thing seems more dreadful than anything else that has ever happened, more utterly dreadful — but you’ll find that it will pass and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/radclyffe-hall/this-thing-seems-more-dreadful-than-anything-else-that-has-ever/) [Radclyffe Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/radclyffe-hall/) > [ Seriously, I do not know what to say of this book \[ Absalom, Absalom!\] except that it seem to point to the final blowup… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/seriously-i-do-not-know-what-to-say-of-this-book-absalom-absalom/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [When the Second World War finished, I was 23 and already I had seen enough horror to last me a lifetime. I'd seen dreadful,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-lee/when-the-second-world-war-finished-i-was-23-and-already-i-had-seen/) [Christopher Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-lee/) > [“Traveling all alone,are you?" One of them asked with what could be described only as a leer worthy of any penny dreadful. Blast. "Let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyxandra-harvey/traveling-all-alone-are-you-one-of-them-asked-with-what-could-be/) [Alyxandra Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyxandra-harvey/) > [Contrary to popular belief, I don't just play dreadful old villains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-curry/contrary-to-popular-belief-i-don-t-just-play-dreadful-old-villains/) [Tim Curry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-curry/) > [“It’s my dreadful temper! I try to cure it, I think I have, and then it breaks out worse than ever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/it-s-my-dreadful-temper-i-try-to-cure-it-i-think-i-have-and-then-it/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/how-dreadful-knowledge-of-the-truth-can-be-when-there-s-no-help-in/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [This wallpaper is dreadful, one of us will have to go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/this-wallpaper-is-dreadful-one-of-us-will-have-to-go/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [You know, what's so dreadful about dying is that you are completely on your own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/you-know-what-s-so-dreadful-about-dying-is-that-you-are-completely-on/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [There's very little about being in a functional-M.R.I. scanner that is natural: you are flat on your back, absolutely still, with your head immobilized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-marantz-henig/there-s-very-little-about-being-in-a-functional-m-r-i-scanner-that-is/) [Robin Marantz Henig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-marantz-henig/) ## More by Hannah Kent > [“I prefer a story to a prayer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/i-prefer-a-story-to-a-prayer/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“Of all the names, one is a mistake. One is a nightmare. The stair you miss in the darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/of-all-the-names-one-is-a-mistake-one-is-a-nightmare-the-stair-you/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [I applied for funding to embark on an overseas field trip in Iceland, and spent six weeks there happily holed up in the national…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/i-applied-for-funding-to-embark-on-an-overseas-field-trip-in-iceland/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“Those who are not being dragged to their deaths cannot understand how the heart grows hard and sharp, until it is a nest of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/those-who-are-not-being-dragged-to-their-deaths-cannot-understand-how/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“I might have starved to death. I would be mud-slick, stuffed to the guts with cold and hopelessness, and my body might know it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/i-might-have-starved-to-death-i-would-be-mud-slick-stuffed-to-the/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“Illugastadir, the farm by the sea, where the soft air rings with the clang of the smithy, and gulls caw, and seals roll over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/illugastadir-the-farm-by-the-sea-where-the-soft-air-rings-with-the/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“The thunder kills the unhatched birds in their eggs.’ ‘Peg”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/the-thunder-kills-the-unhatched-birds-in-their-eggs-peg/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“cradling dead bodies in its cage of burnt beams.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/cradling-dead-bodies-in-its-cage-of-burnt-beams/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [The treachery of a friend is worse than that of a foe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/the-treachery-of-a-friend-is-worse-than-that-of-a-foe/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [I really hate the term 'historical novel' - it reminds me of bodice-rippers. But I'm hooked on research, and I really, really enjoy it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/i-really-hate-the-term-historical-novel-it-reminds-me-of-bodice/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“Some folks are born different, Nance. They are born on the outside of things, with skin a little a thinner, eyes a little keener…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/some-folks-are-born-different-nance-they-are-born-on-the-outside-of/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [“It was not hard to believe a beautiful woman capable of murder, Margret thought.As it says in the sagas, Opt er flago i fogru…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/it-was-not-hard-to-believe-a-beautiful-woman-capable-of-murder/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [My dad would tell me bedtime stories, and he used to always leave them open-ended and finish at a crucial point with the words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/my-dad-would-tell-me-bedtime-stories-and-he-used-to-always-leave-them/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [So lonely I make friends with the ravens that prey on lambs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/so-lonely-i-make-friends-with-the-ravens-that-prey-on-lambs/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [You know you're going to have a good day when your morning begins with breakfast in the same room as Carrie Tiffany, David Vann…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/you-know-you-re-going-to-have-a-good-day-when-your-morning-begins/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) [Explore all 108 Hannah Kent quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) ## More Animals quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Humans are animals too, but some do not like to work from expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/humans-are-animals-too-but-some-do-not-like-to-work-from-expectations/) Mak\_786 > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [We must love animals in such a powerful way that we should reject to eat them!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-must-love-animals-in-such-a-powerful-way-that-we-should-reject-to/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [I bet plants go like 'Weeeeeeeee!' whenever they're swallowed by a giraffe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-plants-go-like-weeeeeeeee-whenever-they-re-swallowed-by-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It’s a small thing to help one animal, but to that one animal it’s a big thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-baur/it-s-a-small-thing-to-help-one-animal-but-to-that-one-animal-it-s-a/) [Gene Baur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-baur/) > [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/all-these-creatures-spend-their-time-explaining-realizing-happily/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [We're not very dangerous animals; we don't have a horn like a rhino or quills like a porcupine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/we-re-not-very-dangerous-animals-we-don-t-have-a-horn-like-a-rhino-or/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [“Plenty of animals had pets, but few were more devoted than the mouse, who owned a baby corn snake—“A rescue snake, she’d be quick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/plenty-of-animals-had-pets-but-few-were-more-devoted-than-the-mouse/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) [Browse all 6,813 Animals quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hannah Kent" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breasts-of-silver-buttons-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Animals" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breasts-of-silver-buttons-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9f/hannah-kent-4646_animals_dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breas_2561638.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9f/hannah-kent-4646_animals_dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breas_2561638.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9f/hannah-kent-4646_animals_dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breas_2561638.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking…” — Hannah Kent", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Hannah Kent", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "...dreadful birds, dressed in red with...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breasts-of-silver-buttons-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/dreadful-birds-dressed-in-red-with-breasts-of-silver-buttons-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```