Cats

"... In Wales the cat was held in great estimation. It was enacted by , "the Good," that the price of a kitten before it could see was to be a penny; if it caught a mouse, its value was raised to twopence, and afterwards to fourpence. If any one stole or killed a cat that guarded the prince's , the offender was compelled either to forfeit a ewe, or as much wheat as would cover the cat when suspended by its tail."

"It has been the providence of Nature to give this creature nine lives instead of one."

"In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods; they have not forgotten this."

"It is widely grokked that cats have the hacker nature."

"Le chat ne nous caresse pas, il se caresse à nous."

"Confront a child, a puppy, and a kitten with a sudden danger; the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy will grovel in abject submission, the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance."

"And when [a cat's] shifts and clever managings have not sufficed to stave off inexorable fate, when its enemies have proved too strong or too many for its defensive powers, it dies fighting to the last, quivering with the choking rage or mastered resistance, and voicing in its death-yell that agony of bitter remonstrance which human animals, too, have flung at the powers that may be; the last protest against a destiny that might have made them happy—and has not. -- "The Achievement of the Cat""

"“Would you like to go and see if cook has got your dinner ready?” suggested Lady Blemley hurriedly, affecting to ignore the fact that it wanted at least two hours to Tobermory’s dinner-time."

"“Thanks,” said Tobermory, “not quite so soon after my tea. I don’t want to die of indigestion.”"

"“Cats have nine lives, you know,” said Sir Wilfred heartily."

"“Possibly,” answered Tobermory; “but only one liver.”"

"For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry. For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him. For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way. For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness."

"I cannot agree that it should be the declared public policy of Illinois that a cat visiting a neighbor’s yard or crossing the highways is a public nuisance. It is in the nature of cats to do a certain amount of unescorted roaming."

"Moreover, cats perform useful service, particularly in rural areas, in combating rodents — work they necessarily perform alone and without regard for property lines."

"J'ai beaucoup étudié les philosophes et les chats. La sagesse des chats est infiniment supérieure."

"Cats, no less liquid than their shadows, Offer no angles to the wind. They slip, diminished, neat, through loopholes Less than themselves."

"When there was room on the ledge outside of the pots and boxes for a cat, the cat was there — in sunny weather — stretched at full length, asleep and blissful, with her furry belly to the sun and a paw curved over her nose. Then that house was complete, and its contentment and peace were made manifest to the world by this symbol, whose testimony is infallible. 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 title?"

"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."

"When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction."

"If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much."

"... a person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was gitting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn't ever going to grow dim or doubtful."

"A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime."

"We loitering in the garden—from her post Of purview at a window, languidly A great Angora watched his Collieship […] She seemed the Orient Spirit incarnate, lost In contemplation of the Western Soul!"

"A cat may look at a king."

"Lauk! what a monstrous tail our cat has got!"

"Mrs. Crupp had indignantly assured him that there wasn't room to swing a cat there; but as Mr. Dick justly observed to me, sitting down on the foot of the bed, nursing his leg. "You know, Trotwood, I don't want to swing a cat. I never do swing a cat. Therefore what does that signify to me!""

"The Cat in Gloves catches no Mice."

"The cat would eat fish, and would not wet her feet."