---
title: "I take a wolf's rib and whittle it sharp at both ends and coil it up … — Galway Kinnell Quote #4 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "I take a wolf's rib and whittle it sharp at both ends and coil it up and freeze it in blubber and place it out on the fairway of the bears. — a quote by Galway Kinnell."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # I take a wolf's rib and whittle it sharp at both ends and coil it up and freeze it in blubber and place it out on the fairway of the bears.

[Galway Kinnell](https://quotesby.net/Galway-Kinnell)\#4

[Nature](https://quotesby.net/Galway-Kinnell/nature/)[Danger](https://quotesby.net/topics/danger/)[Strategy](https://quotesby.net/topics/strategy/)[Survival](https://quotesby.net/topics/survival/)[Tools](https://quotesby.net/topics/tools/)[Wilderness](https://quotesby.net/topics/wilderness/)

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## About this quote

What does it mean?The speaker describes crafting a trap from a wolf's rib to lure bears, suggesting a cunning survival strategy.In plain termsSomeone makes a sharp tool from bone and freezes it to catch bears in their path.What can you take from it?Survival often requires using the tools of one enemy to defeat another.

### Where it applies

- wilderness survival
- conflict resolution
- strategic planning

### Putting it to work

- hunting
- problem solving
- using available resources

### Questions to consider

- What tools do you repurpose in difficult situations?
- How do you use an opponent's strength against them?

### Another view

The imagery is violent and specific to a hunter-gatherer context.

## More from Galway Kinnell

1. > The sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them: the long, perfect l…

[Permalink to quote \#3](https://quotesby.net/Galway-Kinnell/3/ "Permalink to quote 3")
2. > The appeal to heaven breaks off. The petals begin to fall, in self-forgiveness. It is a flower. On this mountainside it is dying.

[Permalink to quote \#2](https://quotesby.net/Galway-Kinnell/2/ "Permalink to quote 2")
3. > A boy's hunched body loved out of a stalk The first song of his happiness, and the song woke His heart to the darkness and into the sadness of joy.

[Permalink to quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Galway-Kinnell/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")

## Related quotes

1. > She has no strong white arms to fold you, But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you - Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.

[Rudyard Kipling](https://quotesby.net/Rudyard-Kipling)[Rudyard Kipling quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Rudyard-Kipling/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")
2. > He was within a few hours of giving his enemies the slip forever.

[Laurence Sterne](https://quotesby.net/Laurence-Sterne)[Laurence Sterne quote \#6](https://quotesby.net/Laurence-Sterne/6/ "Permalink to quote 6")
3. > Still as they run they look behind, They hear a voice in every wind, And snatch a fearful joy.

[Thomas Gray](https://quotesby.net/Thomas-Gray)[Thomas Gray quote \#13](https://quotesby.net/Thomas-Gray/13/ "Permalink to quote 13")

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