Rhinos don't have the endearing spot in the human psyche that dogs and cats do, but they do have a place. Below are a series of quotations from well-known figures who have used the rhinoceros as a metaphor to strengthen their point. Most are about the thickness of the rhino's skin. Others are about the animal's tendency to charge aggressively at sudden danger.
The historian Paul Spencer has developed a principle called The Rhino Principle. His quotation, the last on the page, is linked to an essay he wrote in Forbes Magazine, and it's worth reading in full. It offers advice on how to get ahead in life when it looks like everything is stalled or perhaps even moving downwards.
For an actress to be a success, she must have the face of Venus, the brains of a Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of a Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros. —Actress Ethel Barrymore
A writer who has published as many books as I have has developed, of necessity, a hide like a rhino's, while inside there dwells a frail, hopeful butterfly of a spirit. —Novelist Joyce Carol Oates
I have learned that a bitter experience can make you stronger. I now boastfully say that I have a hide like a rhinoceros...and I'm smiling. It's an interesting thing. —Actor Mel Gibson
One of the best pieces of advice that I’ve ever heard from anyone is Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1920s, who said that women in politics or in public roles should grow skin like a rhinoceros. —Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
...every woman in public life needs to develop skin as tough as rhinoceros hide. —Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
You can always tell when an actor has grown a 'rhino skin' to protect themselves. It comes across on screen, and they aren't believable. They're dead in the eyes because they've been told a million times that they're the greatest actor that ever lived. If you don't realise what's happening, and get your feet back on the ground, it can be the worst thing that ever happens to you. —Actress Emma Stone
Whatever you do to recover from a loss, people will be critical because they believe that the only way to recover is their way. And you will even run into some people who should be run into by rhinos because they actually don't want to see you get over your tragedy at all; grief is a spectator sport for them. —Comedian Joan Rivers
I doubt if a charging elephant, or a rhino, is as determined or hard to check as a socially ambitious mother. —Humorist Will Rogers
There’s a certain rule in life that I’ve found worth considering. It particularly applies if you’re confronted by a crisis. I call it the Rhino Principle....That is what the rhinoceros does. It may not be a model animal in most ways. But it does one thing very well. And that one thing we can learn: Charge! —Historian Paul Johnson, The Rhino Principle, Forbes Magazine, January 30, 2006