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Chop Quotes

One word, several very different meanings.

This chop quotes collection ranges from the well-known Zen proverb about chopping wood and carrying water to a comedian's joke about cutting off a trouser leg. For more food-adjacent lines, see our Food quotes.

The genius of vinyl is that it allows - commands! - us to put our fingerprints all over that history: to blend and chop and reconfigure it, mock and muse upon it, backspin and skip through it.

Quotes by Adam Mansbach

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

Abraham Lincoln

We have the ability to be able, if we have the right resources around us, to really do chop and change and have fun in our time and not just be stuck in one world or the other.

Quotes by Aaron Taylor-Johnson

So he said 'I'm going to chop off the bottom of one of your trouser legs and put it in a library.' I thought 'That's a turn-up for the books.'

Quotes by Tommy Cooper

Cooking Quotes

At the Cruiserweight Classic finale, I said... I don't know if people had looked it up, or if they had heard it before, but it was an old Zen proverb. 'Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, you chop...

Quotes by T. J. Perkins

It's long been a cliche in Washington that if you hang a lamb chop in your window, guests will come.

Quotes by Suzanne Fields

When I started on the very first day with just one restaurant, we used to pick oregano off the stems and chop them. We still do that.

Quotes by Steve Ells

I enjoy domestic life. Cooking gives me great pleasure, especially if I can chop vegetables slowly and think about what I'm doing and dream a little about this and that.

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

When I'm away from New York, the thing I miss the most is the food. I miss going to my deli to get a pomegranate-flavored aloe water and a chop cheese. That's my favorite sandwich.

Quotes by Sheck Wes

Down Quotes

When I was in Milwaukee, I would go into this sneaker shop near my mom's salon and chop it up with the older heads about music. At school, I would make drum noises on the table so much that I...

Quotes by Sheck Wes

Salt is a preservative. It really holds flavor. For example, if you chop up some fresh herbs, or even just garlic, the salt will extract the moisture and preserve the flavor.

Quotes by Sally Schneider

I always said that if I could just find a guy who could chop wood and had a nice smile, it wouldn't bother me if he was a thug or an aristocrat, as long as he was a good guy....

Quotes by Sade Adu

Richard Leacock and I ran into a guy who knew how to carve up a camera, and we had him carve one up for us. We had him chop it down and change the gears from metal to plastic, which...

Quotes by Robert Drew

When I was about 14, I got a splicing kit, which means you could chop up the film into little pieces and switch the order around and glue it together.

Quotes by Peter Jackson

Food Quotes

You do not chop off a section of your imaginative substance and make a book specifically for children, for - if you are honest - you have no idea where childhood ends and maturity begins. It is all endless and...

Quotes by P. L. Travers

If I wasn't acting, I would own a farm. Not like growing crops but maybe have a few animals like cows, and maybe an alpaca or a llama. I would chop wood all day. I would make a living doing...

Quotes by Matthew Daddario

You've got to be careful of guys trying to chop-block you. You know, running backs, the receivers. You've got to just hope that your knees are fine and you can avoid those chop blocks.

Quotes by Mario Williams

'Solja Rag' was designed for Juvenile. It wasn't one of them beats where I was gonna chop it and see who I was going give it to: it was Juvenile all over it.

Quotes by Mannie Fresh

Funding for sports (and the arts) are often the first things facing the chop in difficult times.

Quotes by Lucy Powell

Go Quotes

Why are people always shooting zombies? Why not just chop their heads off? How can zombies get you if you have a good sword?

Quotes by Linden Ashby

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the significance of the Zen proverb quote?
It references the well-known saying about chopping wood and carrying water before and after enlightenment, used here to make a point about routine staying the same even as perspective changes.
Are any of these chop quotes about cooking?
Indirectly — one references a lamb chop as a symbol of hospitality, and another uses chop suey to describe a mix of cultural backgrounds, so food shows up as imagery more than instruction.
Is there a comedic quote in this set?
Yes, one is a lighthearted story about someone joking they'd chop off part of a trouser leg and file it away on a library shelf, played for laughs rather than literal meaning.
Does 'chop' only refer to cutting something?
No, it's used loosely here — as a food term, a cultural metaphor, and part of a proverb about action and patience, rather than sticking to one single definition.
Which related topic pairs well with this one?
Our Food quotes complement it nicely, since several chop quotes touch on meals and ingredients even when that's not their main point.

There's even a nod to chop suey as a way of describing mixed cultural identity. Explore more everyday wordplay in our Cooking and Go quotes.