Quotes and Sayings About Cats and Dogs

Marge Piercy writes in her book Sleeping with Cats: a memoir, that she has long enjoyed feline companionship. She believes cats have more intelligence than is often acknowledged. One feline friend, she feels sure, sensing when she is about to start writing, snatches her pen, hides it, then revels in watching her search for it.

♠ We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stay there, lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore. Mark Twain

♠ The human-feline connection is unique for each person; the feline has but two: be food or feed me. John Baily

♠ If the crocodile was a mammal it would also sleep on your lap. Rolf Harris

♠ Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want. Joseph Wood Krutch

♠ No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. Franklin D. Roosevelt

♠ Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many different ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia. Joseph Wood Krutch

The ship's cat has been a type of mascot for centuries. Its purpose is to catch rats and mice that eat the food stores on board ship. Such cats shared unconditional affection with a crew, men who had often been away from home for months or even years. If a cat died or was lost at sea it was considered a sign that the ship should sail to the nearest port for safety, and to obtain a new fury passenger.

♣ Rule of Feline Frustration: When your cat has fallen asleep on your lap and looks utterly content and adorable, you will suddenly have to go to the bathroom.

♣ If you have any shame, forbear to pluck the beard of a dead lion. Martial

♣ Hares can gamble over the body of a dead lion. Publilius Syrus

♣ 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

♣ Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t make eight cats pull a sled through the snow.

♣ For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat.

♣ Cats are not as stupid as one thinks - they have neither doctors nor lawyers.

♣ In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods; they have not forgotten this. Terry Pratchett

♣ Cats like men are flatterers. Walter Savage Landor

♣ The cat always leaves her mark upon her friend.

♣ The trouble with a kitten is that it eventually becomes a cat. Ogden Nash

Jack and Gibb, a Monkey and a Cat,
Both served one lord and at one table sat.
They were a pair well matched in evil,
And cared for neither man nor devil.
If any loss or breakage was detected,
Jack, of all the dwellers in the house,
Was aye the first to be suspected;
While Gibb’s endeavours were directed
More to chase of cheese than mouse.

When Vicki Myron and her colleagues first found a kitten in the library return box, it was nearly frozen to death. Still, once revived, he soon became the pet of the library. The staff named him Dewey, in deference to the Dewey Decimal system by which books are filed. As time passed, Dewey’s identity as a source of comfort and fun drew more and more visitors.

This catering resulted in Dewey’s refusal to accept any toy which did not contain catnip. Thus, when a little girl, suffering from a terminal illness, was brought to the library by her dad for a chance to see Dewey, bringing a small stuffed animal which did not contain catnip, Ms. Myron became alarmed. How would this frail youngster feel if Dewey rejected her present?

Much to Ms. Myron’s relief, Dewey romped about with the toy with seeming delight for as long as the child was there to watch and enjoy. Once she had left the library with a smile, Dewey never again larked about with this gift. Hence, whatever filled Dewey with zest on that one vital day hints at some instinctive animal-human connection.

Ailurophobia is the irrational fear of cats.

Cynophobia is the irrational fear of dogs

♥ The lone hunter pressed the slain carcass to his breast. Scented as their king he entered their domain and ran with the pack. Translation from: Running with wolves.

♥ I talk to politicians and lawyers but I’d rather talk to a shark or a fox. Jeremy Carlson

♥ There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog. Paul Conrad

♥ Dogs have more love than integrity. They have been true to us, yes, but they have not been true to themselves. Clarence Day

Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the virtues of man without the vices.

♦ The dog was created especially for children. He is the god of frolic. Henry Ward Beecher

♦ Our dogs will love and admire the meanest, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage. Agnes Repplier

♦ Let dogs delight to bite and bite, for God has made them so; let bears and lions growl and fight, for it is in their nature too. Isaac Watts

♦ A real dog, beloved and therefore pampered by his mistress, is a lamentable spectacle. He suffers from fatty degeneration of his moral being. Agnes Repplier

♦ A dog will never forget the crumb you gave him, even if you throw a hundred stones upon him. Sa’di

♦ Dogs live with man as courtiers round a monarch, steeped in the flattery of his notice and enriched with sinecures. To push their favour in this world of pickings and caresses is, perhaps, the business of their lives; and their joys may lie outside. Robert Louis Stevenson

♦ I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers; if I belittle dogs and mothers. Ogden Nash

♦ A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of. Ogden Nash

♦ A man’s best friend is his dogma.

So restricting was poet Elizabeth Barrett’s father that, even at age 39, she was forced to elope with Robert Browning in order to marry him. Apprised of her defiance, her father demanded to know the whereabouts of her dog, Flush, in order to vent his vengeance upon him. Fortunately, Ms. Barrett had taken Flush with her. Until his death, Flush remained a treasured member of the Browning household.

During the 9-11 terrorist attack upon the New York Trade Center, Michael Hingson, assisted by his guide dog Roselle, was able to prevent the deaths of many of Hingson’s co-workers. As he relives his experience in his memoir, Hingson states: “I’m not afraid of the descent. … We are still moving downward on a journey none of us wanted, or anticipated, but we are in it together.

I call out, my voice loud and strong, “Don’t anybody worry. Roselle and I are giving a half-price special to get you out of here if the lights go out.” … . Sourced from: Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust by Michael Hingson and Susy Flory

♠ Absolutely nothing in the world is friendlier than a wet dog.

♠ America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair. Arnold Joseph Toynbee

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

♠ The bond with a dog is as lasting as the ties on this earth c an ever be. Conrad Laurence

♠ The dog is the one thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. Josh Billings

♠ If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Mark Twain

♠ Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this— no dog exchanges bones with another. Adam Smith

Mankind is but a race of dupes;
Uncountable and nincompoops.
That chase each empty shade in turn.
They should from Aesop’s dog to learn.
The difference between be and seem;
Who, seeing his bone reflected in a stream,
Dropt it to grab the copy, and almost sank;
For as he splashed, the water seethed and tossed,
And with a long toil he spluttered to the bank,
The substance and the shade both lost.

“Dear Mrs. White,

White has been stewing around for two days now because he is not sure that he has made you realise how glad he is that there is to be a blessed event. I know White so well that I always know what’s the matter with him, and it always comes to the same thing: he gets thinking that nothing that he writes or says ever quite expresses his feelings, and he worries about his inarticulateness. … It makes him either mad or sick or with a prickly sensation in the head. Lovingly, Daisy”

Shonda Schilling recounts in her moving and candid memoir, "The Best kind of Different", the way she and her husband adapted to their son Grant’s Asperger's Syndrome, including his need for pets:
“Kids with Asperger's tend to gravitate towards animals. They find something soothing about being around them, and it helps calm and focus them. ... As annoying as the dogs can be, there is no denying the impact they have on Grant when it comes to reining in his Asperger’s. ... When he’s sad, and no human can console him, he snuggles with a dog or two, and is suddenly pacified.”

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