If the cat waits for long hours, silent beside the crack of the wainscot, it is for pure pleasure. Cats do not keep the mice away; it is my belief that they preserve them for the chase.

I think all cats are wild. They only act tame if there's a saucer of milk in it for them.

Confront a cat with something he has never seen before and his first reaction will almost invariably be one not of fear but of curiosity.

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

The cat is not in the long run anxious to please.

A cat is not merely diverted by everything that moves, but is convinced that all nature is occupied exclusively with catering to her diversion.

Nothing's more playful than a young cat, nor more grave than an old one.

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

If cats have been the friends of man for so many centuries, could nature not have adapted itself, just a little, away from the formula: five or six kittens to a litter, four times a year?

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

Cats have a consuming passion for watching human beings.

A cat knows how to anticipate.

A cat can be trusted to purr when she is pleased, which is more than can be said for human beings.

Let take a cat, and foster her with milk

And tender flesh, and make her couch of silk,

And let her see a mouse go by the wall,

Anon she leaveth milk and flesh, and all,

And every dainty that is in that house,

Such appetite hath she to eat the mouse.

Lo, here hath kind her domination,

And appetite banishes discretion.

Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reason.

The naming of cats is a difficult matter;

It isn't just one of your holiday games.

You may think at first, I'm as mad as a hatter

When I tell you a cat must have three different names.

The cat lives alone. He has no need of society. He obeys only when he wishes, he pretends to sleep the better to see, and scratches everything he can scratch.

Walking is a human habit into which dogs readily fall but it is a distasteful form of exercise to a cat unless he has a purpose in view.

A dog is like a liberal. He wants to please everybody. A cat really doesn't need to know that everybody loves him.

In the night all cats are gray.

It had need to be a wiley mouse that should breed in the cats ear.

Men prefer pets they can control, like dogs. They can't handle that "get stuffed" stare from a cat.

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. Many live with their owners in apartments or other restricted premises, and I doubt if we want to make their every brief foray an opportunity for a small game hunt by zealous citizens--with traps or otherwise.... To escort a cat abroad on a leash is against the nature of the cat, and to permit it to venture forth for exercise unattended into a night of new dangers is against the nature of the owner. Moreover, cats perform useful service, particularly in rural areas, in combating rodents--work they necessarily perform alone and without regard for property lines.

The moral charm of the cat consists in one's complete inability to fathom their minds and motives. A dog's mind is generally a clear and straightforward affair. You can never discover what strange things are passing in a cat's brain. You know that a dog is looking up to you, following your whims and reflecting your fancies--is, in a word, intellectually dependent upon his master. Not so with a cat. The cat is never the servant of your hand and eye. She may deign to play with you, but it is always with reserves complete enough to save her own individuality and freedom of action. The cat plays with you as much as you with her.

A cat has to be in a very bad mood if a human cannot coax him to purr.

Anyone who has owned many cats in long succession can define his or her life as a series of furry episodes.

The uncertainty of cats has been thrown in their teeth, but to the true cat-lover this uncertainty is a most attractive trait. One may live in a house for six months with a cat and never receive from it a single kindly word or look. It will perhaps sit quietly on your lap as long as you hold it there, for it hates struggling; but the moment your vigilance is relaxed down it jumps, and licks itself carefully, as a sign that your caresses are anything but agreeable. It will purr when you go down on your knees on the hearthrug and rub it under the chin; but it is purring at itself, not you. Your hand is only a stroking machine. It is not in the least afraid of you, but in a hundred ways it shows that it has no use for your caresses, and that it would rather not be encumbered by unasked attention. Yet, suddenly, and without any cause, this very same cat will one day become, for half an hour or an hour, your dearest friend.

In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods. They have never forgotten this.