Women are like elephants. I like to look at 'em, but I wouldn't

W. C. Fields, the master of dry wit and biting jest, once uttered: “Women are like elephants. I like to look at ’em, but I wouldn’t want to own one.” Though framed in humor, this saying carries within it the paradox of admiration mingled with fear. He likens women to elephants, beings majestic and beautiful to behold, but powerful, demanding, and not to be bound by ownership. Beneath the cloak of laughter lies an acknowledgment of awe—an admission that women, like elephants, are creatures of strength and mystery, too great to be possessed without peril.

The ancients knew well that jest often hides deeper truths. The fool in the king’s court spoke with laughter, yet beneath his quips lay wisdom sharper than swords. So here, Fields jested about the peril of ownership in relationships, mocking the age-old desire of men to control women as property. In truth, the saying ridicules not women, but the folly of possession itself. To admire from afar is safe; to seek mastery is to invite struggle, for power cannot be tamed by chains of pride.

History, too, provides a mirror. Consider the story of Samson and Delilah. Samson, mighty among men, believed his strength made him master, yet his heart was undone when he tried to command what could not be owned—love, loyalty, and the spirit of a woman. Like the elephant, Delilah was not his possession, but her own being, and in forgetting this, Samson fell. Thus Fields’ humor, when stripped of its surface, echoes an eternal lesson: that those who try to “own” another soul invite their own undoing.

There is also reverence hidden in the comparison. The elephant is wise, long-lived, and noble, a creature of memory and majesty. To liken women to elephants is to unwittingly bestow honor, even while jesting. Women, like elephants, cannot be reduced to ornament or property; they are forces of nature, commanding respect whether from near or far. Fields, through comedy, acknowledges this truth, even if his words appear flippant.

Let this saying be remembered as more than humor: the folly of trying to possess what should only be honored. For the ancients teach us that love thrives in freedom, not in chains, and admiration without domination becomes the purest form of reverence. Thus, in his jest, Fields handed down a truth deeper than he perhaps intended—that women, like elephants, should be beheld with wonder, not shackled with ownership.