<P> One version was published upon bookmarks during the mid-1930s, and goes as follows: </P> <P> A wise old owl lived in an oak, The more he saw, the less he spoke The less he spoke, the more he heard, Now, wasn't he a wise old bird? </P> <P> The rhyme refers to the traditional image of owls as the symbol of wisdom . It was recorded as early as 1875 and is apparently older than that . It was quoted by John D. Rockefeller in 1915 and is frequently misattributed to Edward Hersey Richards . </P> <P> During World War II, the United States army used the rhyme on a poster with the tweaked ending, "Soldier...be like that old bird!" with the caption "Silence means security ." </P>

Where does the saying wise owl come from