cats

"Dream the world. Not this pallid shadow of reality. Dream the world the way it truly is. A world in which all cats are queens and kings of creation. That is my message. And I shall keep moving, keep repeating it, until I die. Or until a thousand cats hear my words, and believe them, and dream, and we come again to paradise."

"Little one, I would like to see anyone — prophet, king or God — persuade a thousand cats to do anything at the same time."

"Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat."

"How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven."

"One cat just leads to another."

"As one of the poets has said, no cat ever gave anyone a straight answer."

"Daylong this tomcat lies stretched flat As an old rough mat, no mouth and no eyes, Continual wars and wives are what Have tattered his ears and battered his head."

"Tous les chats sont mortels. Socrate est mortel. Donc Socrate est un chat."

"Although most cat owners believe that cats have a need to roam outdoors and that this activity benefits their welfare, roaming also carries welfare risks for the cat. On the other hand, most cats have not been selectively bred to be “s” that live indoors 24 hours a day. Until recently, most domestic cats were allowed to roam freely, and they contributed to the large population of stray and feral cats. In turn many pet cats come from the stray and shelter population. A large proportion of domestic cats have not been selected for easy adaptation to live in confinement and in close contact with people, and socialization to people may also not have been complete in these cats. However, cats are adaptable to a wide range of environments and are generally not known to show clear behavioral signs of problems, such as stereotypic behavior. Problem are often not abnormal behaviors per se but natural behaviors that need to be redirected to appropriate substrates. The most frequent behavior problems cited by cat owners are: inappropriate elimination, scratching, aggression, anxiety, eating problems, vocalizations, and excessive activity. Despite the frequent reporting of these behaviors, most cats will generally adapt to indoor housing provided there is sufficient space and that they are accustomed to these conditions from an early age. The , developed to assess the welfare of s in intensive systems, can be modified to assess the welfare of cats housed in confinement."

"Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want."

"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many different ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia."

"... I think ... of a young cat I once introduced to the joys of catnip. He took only the preoccupied, casual, dutiful sniff which was the routine response to any new object presented to his attention before he started to walk away. Then he did what is called in the slang of the theater "a double take." He stopped dead in his tracks; he turned incredulously back and inhaled a good noseful. Incredulity was swallowed up in delight. Can such things be? Indubitably they can. He flung himself down and he wallowed."

"I like a cat because it does not disguise its selfishness with any flattering hypocrisies. Its attachment is not to yourself, but to your house. Let it but have food, and a warm lair among the embers, and it heeds not at whose expense. Then it has the spirit to resent aggression. You shall beat your dog, and he will fawn upon you; but a cat never forgives : it has no tender mercies, and it torments before it destroys its prey."

"It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle's lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten."

"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 idolised master of a dog whose instinct it is to idolise, but it is a very distinct tribute to be chosen as the friend and confidant of a cat."

"The cat is a wild animal that inhabits the homes of humans."

"Yes, it is strange that anyone should dislike cats. But cats themselves are the worst offenders in this respect. They very seldom seem to like one another."

"What I like about cats is the way they ignore you. There's no telling what way they feel. If I want to be popular all I have to do is rattle the tin opener and he's all over me, purring and sharpening his back on my shins."

"Quand je me joue à ma chatte, qui sait si elle passe son temps de moi plus que je ne fais d'elle? Nous nous entretons de singeries réciproques. Si j'ay mon heure de commencer ou de refuser, aussi a elle la sienne. (translation) When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not merely a pastime to her? We entertain each other with reciprocal antics. If I have the option to commence or refuse playing, she also has her own option."

"The idea, to a cat, that somebody else owns him is ludicrous."

"The cat does not merely experience contentment, he exudes it. You cannot be in the presence of a contented cat and not have some of that contentment rub off on you. Which surely is a good part of the reason we love cats so."

"Tiger, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

"All you gotta do is to use your instincts. How do you think a tiger knows how to tackle a gazelle? It's written, it's code written in their DNA, says "Tackle the gazelle." Believe it or not, in every man there's a code written that says "Tackle drunk bitches.""

"Qi hu nan xia — When you’re riding a tiger, the hard part is getting off."

"It's The Eye Of The Tiger It's the thrill of the fight! Standing up to the challenge of your rival."

"Perched atop a coastal cliff, a tigress named Lidiya reclined, illuminated by the sun rising from the sea. She lay as a house cat might in a , content and at ease. The colors of her —cuts of black and washes of orange against a background of white—allowed this to all but disappear amid the complexity of the forest floor, hidden by the uneven terrain and obscured by shadows in the spindly ."

"In the zoo we fed our tigers an average of 5 kilos of meat a day. Richard Parker will be getting hungry soon. Tigers are powerful swimmers, and if he get's hungry enough, I'm afraid the little bit of water between us won't be any protection. I need to find a way to feed him. I can eat the biscuits, but God made tigers carnivores, so I must learn to catch fish. If I don't, I'm afraid his last meal will be a skinny vegetarian boy."

"Animals do not think like we do. People who forget that get themselves killed. That tiger … is not your friend. When you look into his eyes you are seeing your own emotions reflected back at you."

"Even after killing ninety nine tigers the Maharaja should beware of the hundredth."

"And lastly, Chairman Khrushchev has compared the United States to a worn-out runner living on its past performance, and stated that the Soviet Union would out-produce the United States by 1970. Without wishing to trade hyperbole with the Chairman, I do suggest that he reminds me of the tiger hunter who has picked a place on the wall to hang the tiger's skin long before he his caught the tiger. This tiger has other ideas."

"To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom — and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside."

"One doesn’t contradict a hungry tiger."

"If a man proves too clearly and convincingly to himself … that a tiger is an optical illusion — well, he will find out he is wrong. The tiger will himself intervene in the discussion, in a manner which will be in every sense conclusive."

"What time thou settest near the Sun thy body, thy form, Immortal One, is seen expanding: Thou a wild elephant with might invested. like a dread lion as thou wieldest weapons."

"Averting woe, they labour hard to bring him, the ancient, plenteous food as power resistless. May he, born newly, conquer his assailants: round him they stand as round an angry lion."

"Like a car-driver whipping on his horses, he makes the messengers of rain spring forward. Far off resounds the roaring of the lion, what time Parjanya fills the sky with rain-cloud."

"The Maruts, Friends of men, are glorious as the fire: their mighty and resplendent succour we implore. Those storming Sons of Rudra clothed in robes of rain, boon-givers of good gifts, roar as the lions roar."

"Exceeding wise they roar like lions mightily, they, all-possessing, are beauteous as antelopes; Stirring the darkness with lances and spotted deer, combined as priests, with serpents' fury through their might."

"It is not always realised that the lion, ordinarily looked upon as a native of Africa, had in historic times a habitat extending beyond the limits of that continent from Macedonia to Western Bengal—though the Old Testament should afford a reminder of its former existence in Palestine. Outside India, there is no doubt that the lion was still to be found in the remoter parts of Mesopotamia and southern Persia in the beginning of the present century. When in the Persian Gulf during the [first] Great War, I heard of definite evidence of its continued existence in both countries so late as the year 1917; but it is there almost certainly on the verge of extinction, if not absolutely extinct, today. ... The last stronghold of the lion in India was, and is, the in Kathiawar; there alone he has been able to maintain a footing up to the present time, by reason of the enlightened policy of strict preservation followed by the authorities of the Junagadh State."

"They rejoice Each with their kind, lion with lioness, So fitly them in pairs thou hast combined."

"Noli Barbam vellere mortuo leoni."

"The lion's work hours are only when he's hungry; once he's satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefully together."

"The lion is not so fierce as they paint him."

"The food of the lion (causes) indigestion to the wolf."

"There are no pacts between lions and men."

"The lion shall lie down with the lamb."

"An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep."

"The lion who lives a life of compassion will receive it."

"O lion, your allies in the reedbeds are numerous."

"Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number"