quotations about cats
Through all this horror my cat stalked unperturbed. Once I saw him monstrously perched atop a mountain of bones, and wondered at the secrets that might lie behind his yellow eyes.
H. P. LOVECRAFT
"The Rats in the Walls"
The uncertainty of cats has been thrown in their teeth, but to the true cat-lover this uncertainty is a most attractive trait. One may live in a house for six months with a cat and never receive from it a single kindly word or look. It will perhaps sit quietly on your lap as long as you hold it there, for it hates struggling; but the moment your vigilance is relaxed down it jumps, and licks itself carefully, as a sign that your caresses are anything but agreeable. It will purr when you go down on your knees on the hearthrug and rub it under the chin; but it is purring at itself, not you. Your hand is only a stroking machine. It is not in the least afraid of you, but in a hundred ways it shows that it has no use for your caresses, and that it would rather not be encumbered by unasked attention. Yet, suddenly, and without any cause, this very same cat will one day become, for half an hour or an hour, your dearest friend.
"The Cat in Literature,"
Living Age, vol. 217
Cats are like donkeys and camels, they won't ever quite give in to human tyranny, they won't try to imitate the human soul.
RICHARD ALDINGTON
Artifex
Cats are like insects. They should be left outside to clean up the garbage.
MICHAEL MEWSHAW
Playing Away
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 a cot it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
MARK TWAIN
notebook, Feb. 1894
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 its title?
MARK TWAIN
Pudd'nhead Wilson
It is a very onconvenient habit of kittens ... that, whatever you say to them, they always purr.
LEWIS CARROLL
Through the Looking Glass
Cats don't care if you're gay or straight, what your religion is, or whether you're conservative or liberal. They don't care if you're a few pounds overweight. Cats aren't threatened if you earn more than they do. Cat's don't have problems expressing affection in public, and if you piss 'em off, they walk away.
GLENDA MOORE
"Why Cats Are Better Than People"
Zoologists seem to consider the cerebration of cats and dogs about 50-50 -- but my respect always goes to the cool, sure, impersonal, delicately poised feline who minds his business and never slobbers.
H. P. LOVECRAFT
letter to E. Hoffmann Price, July 29, 1936
We own a dog--he is with us as a slave and inferior because we wish him to be. But we entertain a cat--he adorns our hearth as a guest, fellow-lodger, and equal because he wishes to be there. It is no compliment to be the stupidly idolized master of a dog whose instinct is to idolize, but it is a very distinct tribute to be chosen as the friend and confidant of a cat.
H. P. LOVECRAFT
"Cats and Dogs"
Man has been worshipping cat for centuries and cat has every intention of keeping it that way.
JOHN TICKNER
Tickner's Cats
Some cats are like mystics or cloistered esthetes, finding waking life of no interest and entering it only for necessities such as eating, while others ... do not disdain the secular pastimes of hunting, lurking, and exploring.
VAL SCHAFFNER
The Algonquin Cat
Cats are like statesmen--they prefer places to persons.
EDMUND HODGSON YATES
Two
Beware of the night, child. All cats are black in the dark.
JEAN GENET
The Blacks
There are things that outweigh comfort, unless one is an old woman or a cat.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Left Hand of Darkness
A cat ... plays for her own enjoyment, in a self-contained way, with no desire to share. Shut her up alone, and a ball, a fringe, or a looped piece of string is enough to make her give herself up to silent and graceful sport. While she is playing she does not say, "Man, I'm so awfully glad I've got you here!" She will play beside the bed of a corpse.
KAREL CAPEK
Intimate Things
I've found that the way a person feels about cats--and the way they feel about him or her in return--is usually an excellent gauge by which to measure a person's character.
P.C. CAST & KRISTIN CAST
Marked
In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods. They have never forgotten this.
ANONYMOUS
In the night all cats are gray.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Don Quixote
A cat has to be in a very bad mood if a human cannot coax him to purr.
DEREK TANGYE
A Cat in the Window