Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.
—Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British Novelist, Poet
A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes.
—Indian Proverb
If you want to be a psychological novelist and write about human beings, the best thing you can do is keep a pair of cats.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Satirist, Short Story Writer
Cruel, but composed and bland,
Dumb, inscrutable and grand,
So Tiberius might have sat,
Had Tiberius been a cat.
—Matthew Arnold (1822–88) English Poet, Critic
The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry.
—French Proverb
A cat bitten once by a snake dreads even rope.
—Arabic Proverb
A home without a cat—and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat—may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If there is one spot of sun spilling onto the floor, a cat will find it and soak it up.
—Unknown
Both ardent lovers and austere scholars, when once they come to the years of discretion, love cats, so strong and gentle, the pride of the household, who like them are sensitive to the cold, and sedentary.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Take a cat, nourish it well with milk
And tender meat, make it a couch of silk,
But let it see a mouse along the wall
And it abandones milk and meat and all.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
—Robert A. Heinlein (1907–88) American Science Fiction Writer
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Architect
Cats only pretend to be domesticated if they think there’s a bowl of milk in it for them.
—Robin Williams (1951–2014) American Actor, Comedian, Voice Artist
Time spent with cats is never wasted.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
Watch a cat when it enters a room for the first time. It searches and smells about, it is not quiet for a moment, it trusts nothing until it has examined and made acquaintance with everything.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
It’s too dangerous a journey to risk the cat’s life.
—Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) American Aviator, Inventor, Conservationist
Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance.
—Daniel S. Greenberg (1931–2020) American Science Journalist
Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
In a cat’s eye, all things belong to cats.
—English Proverb
If a cat spoke, it would say things like Hey, I don’t see the problem here.
—Roy Blount, Jr. (b.1941) American Humorist, Journalist
Persian pussy from over the sea demure and lazy and smug and fat none of your ribbons and bells for me ours is the zest of the alley cat
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author
Your rat tail is all the fashion now. I prefer a bushy plume, carried straight up. You are Siamese and your ancestors lived in trees. Mine lived in palaces. It has been suggested to me that I am a bit of a snob. How true! I prefer to be.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
What is sport to the cat is death to the mouse.
—German Proverb
Beware of people who dislike cats
—Irish Proverb
A cat is a tiger that is fed by hand.
—Common Proverb
It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that whatever you say to them, they always purr.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Logician
Cats always seem so very wise, when staring with their half-closed eyes. Can they be thinking, “I’ll be nice, and maybe she will feed me twice?”
—Bette Midler (b.1945) American Actress, Singer
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