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Daily Inspiration Quote by Jackie Kennedy

"A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane"

About this Quote

A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane: a line that lands like a private joke, then quietly reveals a whole worldview. Jackie Kennedy isn’t offering zoology; she’s doing what she often did in public life: converting discomfort into style, and critique into a light, quotable glide. The comedy hinges on a hard flip in expectations. Elephants are supposed to be the slow, monumental thing. Put them next to a camel and suddenly they’re supersonic. That exaggeration is the point: it’s an elegant way to describe how context rewires perception, how the “burden” you thought you were carrying can start to feel nimble once you’ve encountered something more grueling.

The intent feels twofold. On the surface, it’s observational and breezy, the kind of line that keeps conversation moving. Underneath, it’s a social intelligence: an admission that life in certain settings (travel, ceremony, protocol, the long-haul grind of public expectation) can make even the famously heavy seem efficient. Coming from a First Lady, that subtext sharpens. Camel and elephant are both beasts of labor and spectacle, animals used to carry weight for other people. The analogy hints at how status doesn’t eliminate strain; it just repackages it. Jet plane is modernity, speed, escape - a fantasy of frictionless motion. The line’s sly power is that it sketches privilege and pressure in one breath: sometimes “flying” is just what you call it when the alternative is trudging.

Quote Details

TopicWitty One-Liners
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CiteCite this Quote

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Kennedy, Jackie. (n.d.). A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-camel-makes-an-elephant-feel-like-a-jet-plane-31707/

Chicago Style
Kennedy, Jackie. "A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-camel-makes-an-elephant-feel-like-a-jet-plane-31707/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-camel-makes-an-elephant-feel-like-a-jet-plane-31707/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.

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Jackie Kennedy quote: camel, elephant and the jet plane
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About the Author

Jackie Kennedy

Jackie Kennedy (July 28, 1929 - May 19, 1994) was a First Lady from USA.

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