Cat Quotes (Author First Names A to D)
A selection of famous, memorable, and noteworthy quotes about our feline friends (Quotes are organized by the Author’s first name).
A to D — E to I — J to N — O to Z
“A kitten is the most irresistible comedian in the world. Its wide-open eyes gleam with wonder and mirth. It darts madly at nothing at all, and then, as though suddenly checked in the pursuit, prances sideways on its hind legs with ridiculous agility and zeal.”
Agnes Reppelier
American Essayist
(1855-1950)
“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”
Albert Schweitzer
German Theologian, Organist,
Philosopher, Physician,
Medical Missionary
(1875-1965)
“There are people who reshape the world by force or argument, but the cat just lies there, dozing, and the world quietly reshapes itself to suit his comfort and convenience.”
Allen and Ivy Dodd
“Of all animals, the cat alone attains to the contemplative life. He regards the wheel of existence from without, like the Buddha.”
Andrew Lang
Scottish Poet, Novelist,
Literary Critic
(1844-1912)
“I saw the most beautiful cat today. It was sitting by the side of the road, its two front feet neatly and graciously together. Then it gravely swished around its tail to completely encircle itself. It was so fit and beautifully neat, that gesture, and so self-satisfied, so complacent.”
Ann Morrow Lindbergh
Author, Aviator,
Spouse of Charles Lindbergh
(1906-2001)
“Always turn and look when your cat gazes behind you with that intent look in her eyes. Some day there might actually be something there.”
Anonymous
“If you want to know the character of a man, find out what his cat thinks of him.“
Anonymous
“There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats.”
Anonymous
“Thousands of years ago, cats were worshiped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.”
Anonymous
“A cat isn’t fussy–just so long as you remember he likes his milk in the shallow, rose-patterned saucer and his fish on the blue plate. From which he will take it, and eat it off the floor.”
Arthur Bridges
“Cats have an infallible understanding of total concentration–and get between you and it.”
Arthur Bridges
“It is in their eyes that their magic resides.”
Arthur Symons
English Poet, Critic,
Magazine Editor
(1865-1945)
“Cats look beyond appearances–beyond species entirely, it seems–to peer into the heart.”
Barbara L. Diamond
Article contributor Cat Fancy
“Cats may, indeed, be the thinking man’s pet–because living with cats certainly keeps you on your toes!”
Barbara L. Diamond
Article contributor Cat Fancy
“Don’t let anyone tell you loving a cat is silly. Love, in any form, is a precious commodity.”
Barbara L. Diamond
Article contributor Cat Fancy
“How nice it is to think that feline dreams, like our own, are painted with creative brush strokes from time to time. Perhaps my cats and I even share the same dream: a world where all kittens are wanted and loved, and where every cat has a safe, warm place to sleep…and to dream.”
Barbara L. Diamond
Article contributor Cat Fancy
“The purr from cat to man says, ‘You bring me happiness; I am at peace with you.'”
Barbara L. Diamond
Article contributor Cat Fancy
“I think one reason we admire cats, those of us who do, is their proficiency in one-upmanship. They always seem to come out on top, no matter what they are doing–or pretend to do. Rarely do you see a cat discomfited. They have no conscience, and they never regret. Maybe we secretly envy them.”
Barbara Webster
Excerpt from “Creatures
and Contentments”
“A cat is there when you call her – if she doesn’t have something better to do.”
Bill Adler
American Music Journalist and Critic
“Winners are different. They’re a different breed of cat.”
Byron Nelson
PGA Tour Golfer
(1912-2006)
“An ordinary kitten will ask more questions than any five year old.”
Carl Van Vechten
American Writer and Photographer
(1880-1964)
“The cat seldom interferes with other people’s rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life.”
Carl Van Vechten
American Writer and Photographer
(1880-1964)
“There is, indeed, no single quality of the cat that man could not emulate to his advantage.”
Carl Van Vechten
American Writer and Photographer
(1880-1964)
“The constant challenge to decipher feline behavior is perhaps one of the most fascinating qualities of owning a cat.”
Carole Wilbourn
American Cat Therapist
“There is no more intrepid explorer than a kitten.”
Champfleury
French Art Critic and Novelist
(1820-1889)
“Nothing is so difficult as to paint the cat’s face, which as Moncrif justly observes bears a character of “finesse and hilarity.” The lines are so delicate, the eyes so strange, the movements subject to such sudden impulses, that one should be feline oneself to portray such a subject.”
Champfleury
French Art Critic and Novelist
(1820-1889)
“What greater gift than the love of a cat?”
Charles Dickens
British Author
(1812-1870)
“If there was any petting to be done…he chose to do it. Often he would sit looking at me, and then, moved by a delicate affection, come and pull at my coat and sleeve until he could touch my face with his nose, and then go away contented.”
Charles Dudley Warner
American Essayist and Novelist
(1829-1900)
“People meeting for the first time suddenly relax if they find they both have cats. And plunge into anecdote.”
Charlotte Gray
British/Canadian
Historian and Author
“As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.”
Cleveland Amory
American Author
(1917-1998)
“Cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human mind. They realize…that we have an infuriating inability to understand, let alone follow, even the simplest and most explicit of directions.”
Cleveland Amory
American Author
(1917-1998)
“One of the ways in which cats show happiness is by sleeping.”
Cleveland Amory
American Author
(1917-1998)
“By associating with the cat, one only risks becoming richer.”
Colette
French Novelist
(1873-1954)
“I am indebted to the species of the cat for a particular kind of honorable deceit, for a great control over myself, for characteristic aversion to brutal sounds, and for the need to keep silent for long periods of time.”
Colette
French Novelist
(1873-1954)
“Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.”
Colette
French Novelist
(1873-1954)
“There are no ordinary cats.”
Colette
French Novelist
(1873-1954)
“Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance.”
Dan Greenberg
American Educator
“There is, incidentally, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person.”
Dan Greenberg
American Educator
“Cats are smart. You know it and I know it.”
Debbie Mertens
“I put down my book, The Meaning of Zen,
and see the cat smiling into her fur as she delicately combs it with her rough pink tongue.
Cat, I would lend you this book to study but it appears you have already read it.
She looks up and gives me her full gaze.
Don’t be ridiculous, she purrs, I wrote it.
Excerpt from “Miao” – Dilys Laing
American Poet
(1906-1960)
“A cat can purr its way out of anything.”
Donna McCrohan
American Author
“The cat could very well be man’s best friend but would never stoop to admitting it.”
Doug Larson
American Newspaper Columnist
“If your cat favors the left paw, chances are good that it possesses psychic ability to some extent.”
Dr. David Greene
A to D — E to I — J to N — O to Z
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