Famous Pet & Animal Quotes

"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language." ~ Martin Buber

"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~ Immanual Kant

"My little dog -- a heartbeat at my feet." ~ Edith Wharton

"A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution." ~ Hazel Nicholson

"The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals" ~ Anonymous

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier

"There's no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat." ~ Wesley Bates

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." ~ Anonymous

"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

"A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than you love yourself." ~ Josh Billings

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France

"Old age means realizing you will never own all the dogs you wanted to." ~ Joe Gores

"A canter is the cure for all evil." ~ Benjamin Disraeli

"Dogs have owners, cats have staff." ~ Anonymous

"Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful." ~ Ann Landers

"In the beginning, God created man, but seeing him so feeble, He gave him the cat" ~ Warren Eckstein

"A house is not a home without a pet." ~ Anonymous

"I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul." ~ Jean Cocteau

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans" ~ James Herriot

"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are
so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long." ~ Walt Whitman

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." ~ Ben Williams

"A dog maybe a man's best friend but a horse made history..." ~ Anonymous

"No heaven will not ever Heaven be;
Unless my cats are there to welcome me." ~ Anonymous

"Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in?
I think that is how dogs spend their lives." ~ Sue Murphy

"To err is human, to forgive, canine" ~ Anonymous

"To err is human, to purr, feline" ~ Robert Byrne

"A horse gallops with his lungs,
Perseveres with his heart,
And wins with his character." ~ Tesio

"A Horse! A Horse! my kingdom for a horse!" ~ Shakespeare

"All of the animals except for man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it." ~ Samuel Butler

"You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'" ~ Dave Barry

"There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before." ~ Robert Lynd

"The dog was created especially for children. He is the God of frolic." ~ Henry Ward Beecher

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"The Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him." ~ Rudyard Kipling

"If I have any beliefs about immortality it is that certain dogs I know will go to heaven, and very very few people." ~ James Thurber

"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg." ~ Samuel Butler

"I've met many thinkers and many cats, but the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." ~ Hippolyte Taine

"Every boy should have two things: a dog, and a mother willing to let him have one" ~ Anonymous

"Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled" ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

"A dog has lots of friends because he wags his tail and not his tongue." ~ Anonymous

"The dog represents all that is best in man." ~ Etienne Charlet

"The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp." ~ John Berry

"And God took a handful of southernly wind, blew His breath over it and created the horse." ~ Bedouin Legend

"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person." ~ Andrew A. Rooney

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." ~ Chinese Proverb

"Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later." ~ Mary Bly

"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms." ~ George Elliot

"The Trouble with a kitten is
That
Eventually it becomes a
Cat"
~ Ogden Nash

"The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too." ~ Samuel Butler

"I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it."
~ Abraham Lincoln

"If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because you lap is warmer." ~ Alfred North Whitehead

"...he will be our friend for always and always and always." ~ Rudyard Kipling

"The best thing about animals is that they don't talk much." ~ Thornton Wilder

"When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her." ~ Montaigne

Cats Bearing Gifts

Cats bearing gifts are not uncommon. Some experts say that bringing a cat to a human companion is a form of nurturing, much as a mother cat will bring food to her kittens. Even male birds will feed their fledglings in their nests, running relays with the mother bird. While that explanation makes sense in many cases, I think the motivations of some cats go even deeper than that.


Bubba:
Of all the cats I've known and loved, I only recall two who have frequently brought me unique and exciting gifts. Bubba, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 18, regularly brought little presents into the house. They were always destined for me, for some reason or another. While these gifts could have been construed as food offerings, somehow I suspect there was another motive involved. You see, Bubba was very territorial when it came to his human, Asa. He was willing to tolerate me as long as I didn't overstep my bounds, such as trying to sleep between Asa and Bubba at night. Bubba's gifts were a mixed message, and included green baby snakes (both dead and alive), deposited next to my favorite stool at the kitchen counter. One morning at 3 a.m., when exiting the bed for a potty break, I stepped on a large, very stinkily dead catfish, dredged up from the riverbank which is our back yard. While snakes and catfish could qualify as meals from a generous provider, in Bubba's case, I suspect an ulterior motive: a Godfather-style warning to back off where his human was concerned.

One Thanksgiving, Bubba's gift to the family was more traditional. We were still seated at the table: the Syufys, including our adult children, my widowed Mom, and Asa's Mom and Step-Dad. Bubba appeared at the glass sliding door, dragging "something" between his front legs. It was a massive clump of water hyacinths, about nine inches in diameter and 18 inches long. It immediately put me in mind of The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and the squeals coming from the other women at the table verified that. He dropped the wet, smelly mess next to my chair at the foot of the table, as much as to say, "Dessert is served, milady." (Bubba was a hard act to follow.)