Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: February 1, 2023 by Crystal Uys

cat with flower painting

Quotations resonate with us because they can express the essence of a subject with a few, well-chosen words.  They may teach us something new.  And they can make us smile.

Not surprisingly, I love these literary tidbits.  Here are some of my favorites:

I love cats because I love my home and little by little they become its visible soul. – Jean Cocteau

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. — Alan and Ivy Dodd

If you want to be a psychological novelist and write about human beings, the best thing you can do is own a pair of cats. — Aldous Huxley

Never ask a hungry cat whether he loves you for yourself alone. — Dr. Louis J. Camuti

You can’t look at a sleeping cat and be tense. — Jane Pauley

There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats. — Anonymous

If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air. — Doris Lessing

Time spent with cats is never wasted. – Colette

Thousands of years ago, cats were worshiped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this. — Anonymous

After scolding one’s cat, one looks into its face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word and has filed it for reference. — Charlotte Gray

Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance. — Dan Greenburg

Your cat will never threaten your popularity by barking at three in the morning. He won’t attack the mailman or eat the drapes, although he may climb the drapes to see how the room looks from the ceiling. – Helen Powers

I have noticed that what cats most appreciate in a human being is not the ability to produce food, which they take for granted – but his or her entertainment value. — Geoffrey Household

Cats are magical.  The more you pet them, the longer you both live. — Anonymous

The sun rose slowly, like a fiery furball coughed up uneasily onto a sky-blue carpet by a giant unseen cat. — Michael McGarel

The mathematical probability of a common cat doing exactly as it pleases is the one scientific absolute in the world. — Lynn M. Osband

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 mind. — Cleveland Amory

Cats do care. For example they know instinctively what time we have to be at work in the morning and they wake us up twenty minutes before the alarm goes off. –Michael Nelson

The reason cats climb is so that they can look down on almost every other animal.  It’s also the reason they hate birds. — KC Buffington

And one of my all time favorites:

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. — Dilys Laing

Do you have a favorite cat quote? Please share it in a comment!

Image: ©Bernadette Kazmarski. See this and more of Bernadette’s beautiful cat paintings in her 2012 calendar and gift book, Great Rescues.

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23 Comments on Favorite cat quotes

  1. Here are a few of my favorite cat quotes:
    A meow massages the heart. – Stuart McMillan

    There’s no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat. – Wesley Bates

    “Time spent with cats is never wasted.” – May Sarton

    “What greater gift than the love of a cat?” – Charles Dickens

    “It was not I who was teaching my cat to gather rosebuds, but she who was teaching me.” – Irving Townsend

    “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

    These next two were apparently written at our house, lol:

    “One cat just leads to another.” – Ernest Hemingway
    “It’s really the cat’s house–we just pay the mortgage.” – Unknown

    I don’t know why, but I have always been fascinated w/this one. I can just picture the grim reaper standing there thinking about what truly makes life worth living and then giving this answer:

    “I meant,” said Ipslore bitterly, “what is there in this world that truly makes living worth while?” Death thought about it. “Cats,” he said eventually, “Cats are nice.” – Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

  2. I read all these quotes. Each was just as good as the one as the one I thought I really liked. They are all very good. So to pick one, is not possible for me. Anyway Steeler says, don’t dislike any or Mom you will pay. So I like them all. 🙂

  3. I read a quote and I say, “oooo that’s the best one”. Then I read another and say, “oooo that’s the best one”. I keep reading them and reading them, finding more I hadn’t seen before,with each post. Thanks to all for adding to the unending list. One of the most personal quotes I’ve heard is from my freinds…”when I come back, I want to come back as one of Ruth’s cats”! What an honor.

  4. “Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.” (Jeff Valdez)

    “It is in their eyes that their magic resides.” (Arthur Symons)

    • I love that, Layla. I have a plaque that has two cats on it and it says “All God’s creatures come to use disguised.” Similar sentiment.

  5. Wonderful compilation of cat love! I could see a book with Bernadette’s art and these cat quotes…small, one of those little books you put on a guest bedroom nightstand…

  6. The Heinlein quote is one of my favorites, and is even listed on my Facebook profile as my favorite quote! Another fun one is this:

    “Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a lot of ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.” — Joseph Wood Crutch

    And a good guideline for life in general:

    “If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they, too, would purr.” — Martin Delany

  7. Wow…. what a great list of quotes. I’ll have to have HH find a favorite for us to put up.

    Thanks.

    pawhugs, Max

  8. “The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” ~Leonardo DaVinci, who knew whereof he spoke when it came to masterpieces.

    Kent stole the Heinlein quote, also one of my favorites!

    A joy to see Peaches’ portrait in your post!

  9. It’s so hard to choose just one, but I keep coming back to:

    Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
    ~ Robert A. Heinlein

  10. I collect quotes, I have a book entitled “10,000 Quips and Quotes” about anything and everything, I have been collecting quotes since I was a teen.

    I love the cat quotes that you shared.

    One of my favorites is on my blog and it is “”Always speak of the past, gratefully, of the future, excitedly, and of the present with bobbing eyebrows and a Cheshire grin” -The Universe”

    I love it because I feel it represents COMPLETELY who I am.

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