Many well-known people have had their opinions about cats, and their quotes have been saved and passed on. Here is a new selection for you to enjoy. They come from a great little book with spaces for pictures. Mine is filled with cat cards that I’ve received. The book is called The Cat Notebook, from Running Press in Pennsylvania. Read through these quotes and decide if you agree with their comments. Pick out a favorite or two. Then leave me a comment at the end of the post, so I will know your thoughts about them. Enjoy!
One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that the cat only has nine lives.
— Mark Twain
The cat was a creature of absolute convictions, and his faith in his deductions never varied.
— Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Most cats, when they are out want to be in, or in when they want to be out, or sometimes both simultaneously.
— Dr. Louis J. Camuti
A cat is a tiger that is fed by hand.
— Yakaoka Genrin
What’s virtue in man can’t be vice in a cat.
— Mary Abigail Dodge
As a kitten, this cat never slept on the outside of the bed. She waited until I was in it, then she walked all over me, considering possibilities. — Doris Lessing
The cat is the mirror of his human’s mind, personality and attitude, just as the dog mirrors his human’s physical appearance. — Winifred Carriere
It is a difficult matter to gain the affection of a cat. He is a philosophical, methodical animal, tenacious of his own habits, fond of order and neatness, and disinclined to extravagant sentiment. He will be your friend, if he finds you worthy of friendship, but not your slave. —Theophile Gautier
Cats do not need to be shown how to have a good time, for they are unfailingly ingenious in that respect. — James Mason and Pamela Kellino
Although all cat games have their rules and ritual, these vary with the individual player. The cat, of course, never breaks a rule. It if does not follow precedent, that simply means it has created a new rule and it is up to you to learn it quickly if you want the game to continue. — Sidney Denham
Nothing’s more playful than a young cat, nor more grave than an old one.
— Thomas Fuller
One of the most delightful aspects of living with a cat is the cat’s serene conviction of equality.
— Margaret Cooper Gay
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
Oh, you who strive to relieve your overwrought nerves and cultivate power through repose, watch the exquisite languor of the drowsy cat and despair of imitating such restful grace.
— Agnes Repplier
Cats will always lie soft. — Theocritus
For me, one of the pleasures of cats’ company is their devotion to bodily comfort.
— Compton Mackenzie
In many respects, cats are more like men and women than dogs; they have moods, and their nature is complex.
— Helen Winslow
The really great thing about cats is their endless variety. One can pick a cat to fit almost any kind of decor, color scheme, income, personality, mood. But under the fur, whatever color it may be, there still lies, essentially unchanged, one of the world’s free souls. — Eric Gurney
The cat is never vulgar. — Carl Van Vechten
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
The cat is, above all things, a dramatist. — Margaret Benson
He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him. — Rudyard Kipling
Cats do not go for a walk to get somewhere but to explore.
— Sidney Denham
The idea of calm exists in a sitting cat. — Jules Reynard
You could never accuse him of idleness, and yet he knew the secret of repose.
— Charles Dudley Warner
Cats love one so much — more than they will allow. But they have so much wisdom they keep it to themselves.
— Mary Wilkins
If I called her she would pretend not to hear, but would come a few moments later when it could appear that she had thought of doing so first. — Arthur Weigall
It is as easy to hold quicksilver between your finger and thumb as to keep a cat who means to escape.
— Andrew Lang
If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.
— Doris Lessing
The cat lives alone, has no need of society, obeys only when she pleases, pretends to sleep that she may see the more clearly, and scratches everything on which she can lay her paw.
— Francois Rene de Chateaubriand
Nobody who is not prepared to spoil cats will get from them the reward they are able to give to those who do spoil them.
— Compton Mackenzie
No tame animal has lost less of its native dignity or maintained more of its ancient reserve. The domestic cat might rebel tomorrow. — William Conway
I could half persuade myself that the word felonious is derived from the feline temper.
— Robert Southey
The smart cat doesn’t let on that he is. — H.G. Frommer
If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.
— Mark Twain
The only mystery about the cat is why it ever decided to become a domestic animal. — Compton Mackenzie
The cat is the only animal which accepts the comforts but rejects the bondage of domesticity. — Georges Louis LeClerc de Buffon
To understand a cat, you must realize that he has his own gifts, his own viewpoint, even his own morality. — Lillian Jackson Braun
Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of.
— Sir Walter Scott
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What fun to read all these quotes! I love Doris Lessing’s quote as I think cats do look for the best option when it comes to their comfort!
Thanks, Annie…yes, they are fun, aren’t they? I love the quote by Mark Twain, where he says if man could be crossed with a cat, the man would be improved but it would deteriorate the cat. Yes, cats do take care of themselves quite well, when they can.