--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs…" description: "\"Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs, Hogs eat Snakes, Men eat Hogs.\" — Wallace Stevens" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/795/wallace-stevens-846_butterfly_frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-h_2010385.jpg" --- # Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs, Hogs eat Snakes… ![“Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs, Hogs eat Snakes, Men eat Hogs.” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/795/wallace-stevens-846_butterfly_frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-h_2010385.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/795/wallace-stevens-846_butterfly_frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-h_2010385.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/795/wallace-stevens-846_butterfly_frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-h_2010385.jpg) > “Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs, Hogs eat Snakes, Men eat Hogs.” [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The chain of consumption illustrates a cyclical hierarchy where each level feeds the next, ending with humans at the top. **In simple terms:** Each creature eats another, ending with humans. Key Takeaway Question the ethics of consumption. Themes ecology food chain hierarchy human impact nature philosophy Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical environmental When to use this quote - ecosystem management - dietary choices - conservation policies - educational curricula - wildlife studies Key Concepts predator‑prey dynamics environmental ethics sustainability human responsibility Questions to Reflect On - Are we stewards or predators? - How can we break harmful cycles? A Different Perspective Humans also depend on ecosystems, not just dominate. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Butterfly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Snakes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/snakes/) ## Related quotes > [Eat that frog! If you have to eat 3 frogs, eat the biggest and uggliest one first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-tracy/eat-that-frog-if-you-have-to-eat-3-frogs-eat-the-biggest-and-uggliest/) [Brian Tracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-tracy/) > [“Once he got bitten, and they all wept bitterly, expecting to see a spectacular death-agony; but he just went off into the bush and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/once-he-got-bitten-and-they-all-wept-bitterly-expecting-to-see-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What is with these guys? Where's the thrill in watching snakes eat? I certainly didn't thrill in watching humans eat.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-jennings/what-is-with-these-guys-where-s-the-thrill-in-watching-snakes-eat-i/) [Patrick Jennings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-jennings/) > [People don't like to feed live mice and rats to their snakes. Now we have a regular meat food that they will eat. Ninety…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-van-patten/people-don-t-like-to-feed-live-mice-and-rats-to-their-snakes-now-we/) [Dick Van Patten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-van-patten/) > [If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-it-s-your-job-to-eat-a-frog-it-s-best-to-do-it-first-thing-in-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first." This is another way of saying that if you have two important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-tracy/if-you-have-to-eat-two-frogs-eat-the-ugliest-one-first-this-is/) [Brian Tracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-tracy/) > [Frogs will eat red-flannel worms fed to them by biologists; this proves a great deal about both parties concerned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-cuppy/frogs-will-eat-red-flannel-worms-fed-to-them-by-biologists-this/) [Will Cuppy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-cuppy/) > [If you have two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-tracy/if-you-have-two-frogs-eat-the-ugliest-one-first/) [Brian Tracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-tracy/) > [Bicycles are the new rollerblades, talentless is the new talented, and I'm in hog heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-seacrest/bicycles-are-the-new-rollerblades-talentless-is-the-new-talented-and/) [Ryan Seacrest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-seacrest/) > [In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, Sam Clay liked to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/in-later-years-holding-forth-to-an-interviewer-or-to-an-audience-of/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [EPMD in effect, I'm clockin' mad green Like Kermit the Frog, sloppy like Boss Hog, Girl was runnin' wild...ate her like a corn dog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pmd/epmd-in-effect-i-m-clockin-mad-green-like-kermit-the-frog-sloppy-like/) PMD > [HOG, n. A bird remarkable for the catholicity of its appetite and serving to illustrate that of ours. Among the Mahometans and Jews, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/hog-n-a-bird-remarkable-for-the-catholicity-of-its-appetite-and/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [It was part of theTexas ritual? We know about champagne and caviar but we talk hog and hominy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-ferber/it-was-part-of-thetexas-ritual-we-know-about-champagne-and-caviar-but/) [Edna Ferber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-ferber/) > [Nature does not pile up 1000 hogs, then hope for the best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-dye-gussow/nature-does-not-pile-up-1000-hogs-then-hope-for-the-best/) Joan Dye Gussow > [We were so poor as kids. I didn't even see a bathtub, running water, hot water, commode - we didn't have any of that.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-robertson/we-were-so-poor-as-kids-i-didn-t-even-see-a-bathtub-running-water-hot/) [Phil Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-robertson/) ## More by Wallace Stevens > [Poet, patting more nonsense foamed From the sea, conceive for thecourts Of these academies, the diviner health Disclosed in common forms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poet-patting-more-nonsense-foamed-from-the-sea-conceive-for-thecourts/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-way-through-the-world-is-more-difficult-to-find-than-the-way/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The magnificent cause of being, The imagination, the one reality In this imagined world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-magnificent-cause-of-being-the-imagination-the-one-reality-in/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Music falls on the silence like a sense / A passion that we feel, not understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/music-falls-on-the-silence-like-a-sense-a-passion-that-we-feel-not/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The life of the city never lets you go, nor do you ever want it to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-life-of-the-city-never-lets-you-go-nor-do-you-ever-want-it-to/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [After a lustre of the moon, we say We have not the need of any paradise, We have not the need of any seducing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/after-a-lustre-of-the-moon-we-say-we-have-not-the-need-of-any/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [I am what is around me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-am-what-is-around-me/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/we-live-in-an-old-chaos-of-the-sun-or-old-dependency-of-day-and-night/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“Lunar Paraphrase" The moon is the mother of pathos and pity. When, at the wearier end of November, Her old light moves along the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/lunar-paraphrase-the-moon-is-the-mother-of-pathos-and-pity-when-at/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Poetry is the scholar's art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-the-scholar-s-art/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“The stars are putting on their glittering belts, They throw around their shoulders cloaks that flash Like a great shadow's last embellishment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-stars-are-putting-on-their-glittering-belts-they-throw-around/) [wallace stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/unfortunately-there-is-nothing-more-inane-than-an-easter-carol-it-is/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The word is the making of the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-word-is-the-making-of-the-world/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [A diary is more or less the work of a man of clay whose hands are clumsy and in whose eyes there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/a-diary-is-more-or-less-the-work-of-a-man-of-clay-whose-hands-are/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [It is never the thing but the version of the thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/it-is-never-the-thing-but-the-version-of-the-thing/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Explore all 352 Wallace Stevens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## More Butterfly quotes > [The beginning of love is all about the butterflies, but the end of it is when you can't get out of bed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/the-beginning-of-love-is-all-about-the-butterflies-but-the-end-of-it/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [One day I decided I would like to put a record into my system. So I picked up a record that was lying on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/one-day-i-decided-i-would-like-to-put-a-record-into-my-system-so-i/) [Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/) > [A room full of words that are nearly the truth but not quite, each note fluttering off the steam of its rose like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/a-room-full-of-words-that-are-nearly-the-truth-but-not-quite-each/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“Story is a butterfly whose wings transport us to another world where we receive gifts that change who we are and who we want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harley-king/story-is-a-butterfly-whose-wings-transport-us-to-another-world-where/) [Harley King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harley-king/) > [Do you remember how you felt at seventeen? I do and I don't (...) Imagine you came from outer space and someone showed you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/do-you-remember-how-you-felt-at-seventeen-i-do-and-i-don-t-imagine/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [Kill not the moth nor butterfly, For the Last Judgement draweth nigh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/kill-not-the-moth-nor-butterfly-for-the-last-judgement-draweth-nigh/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [Farewell,' she said. 'I hope you hear many more songs' - which was the best way she could think of to say good-bye to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-s-beagle/farewell-she-said-i-hope-you-hear-many-more-songs-which-was-the-best/) [Peter S. Beagle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-s-beagle/) > [Know thyself. A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-gide/know-thyself-a-maxim-as-pernicious-as-it-is-ugly-whoever-studies/) [Andre Gide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-gide/) > [When, within our souls and psyches we are made aware of a safe but insistent drum beat, repeated like butterfly wings in motion, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-meeker/when-within-our-souls-and-psyches-we-are-made-aware-of-a-safe-but/) [Mary Meeker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-meeker/) > [I just think about what I am doing on my side of the net, which requires focus. Even after all the years I've been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karch-kiraly/i-just-think-about-what-i-am-doing-on-my-side-of-the-net-which/) [Karch Kiraly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karch-kiraly/) > [My loneliness...still comes over me sometimes...It's a liminal, lost sensation of having wandered wide, endless boulevards, among rows of orange trees, winter butterflies, seasons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-roth/my-loneliness-still-comes-over-me-sometimes-it-s-a-liminal-lost/) [Marco Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-roth/) > [I used to watch old clips of Muhammad Ali, where he'd be talking the jive during interviews, you know, 'Float like a butterfly, sting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-buffer/i-used-to-watch-old-clips-of-muhammad-ali-where-he-d-be-talking-the/) [Michael Buffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-buffer/) > [Pleasure's a Moth, that sleeps by day And dances by false glare at night; But Joy's a Butterfly, that loves To spread its wings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-davies/pleasure-s-a-moth-that-sleeps-by-day-and-dances-by-false-glare-at/) [W. H. Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-davies/) > [The air is like a butterfly With frail blue wings. The happy earth looks at the sky And sings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-kilmer/the-air-is-like-a-butterfly-with-frail-blue-wings-the-happy-earth/) [Joyce Kilmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-kilmer/) > [I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-only-ask-to-be-free-the-butterflies-are-free-mankind-will-surely/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) [Browse all 1,033 Butterfly quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs, Hogs eat Snakes, Men eat Hogs.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-hogs-eat-snakes-men-eat-hogs/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Butterfly" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-hogs-eat-snakes-men-eat-hogs/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/795/wallace-stevens-846_butterfly_frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-h_2010385.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/795/wallace-stevens-846_butterfly_frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-h_2010385.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/795/wallace-stevens-846_butterfly_frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-h_2010385.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs, Hogs eat Snakes, Men eat Hogs.” — Wallace Stevens", "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": "Wallace Stevens", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Frogs eat Butterflies, Snakes eat Frogs,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-hogs-eat-snakes-men-eat-hogs/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/frogs-eat-butterflies-snakes-eat-frogs-hogs-eat-snakes-men-eat-hogs/#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 } } ] } ```