Cat Lovers, You Will Feel So Seen When You Read These Cat Quotes
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Hi there, fellow cat lover. Chances are that if you’ve landed on this article, you already know that cats rule—and you’re not alone. Many great minds through the ages have admired the feline sort too and recorded their observations in books, essays, poems, and interviews, giving us a trove of great cat quotes to pull from.
Whether you are looking for short, cute, inspirational, or funny cat quotes, you’ll find lots of gems in this collection. Write one in a card to go with a gift for a cat-loving friend. Or use them as Instagram captions for your cat pics because, as we all know, every cat nap, hilarious derp face, and play session with the latest addition to their feline paradise is a photo-worthy moment.
From English veterinarian and memoirist James Herriot’s astute observation that “Cats are connoisseurs of comfort,” to quotes that make us feel so seen (see Bobbie Ann Mason’s line, “One day I was counting the cats and I absent-mindedly counted myself"), we’ve gathered all the best cat sayings here.
So what are you waiting for? Scroll on through these memorable cat quotes. And when you're done, if perchance you have just welcomed a new kitty into your home, be sure check out our list of the best cute cat names too. Got a cat on your lap right now? You’ll be there for a while, so it’s a good time to pick up a new book—may we recommend a murder mystery?
PC Cast and Kristin Cast
“Cats choose us; we don't own them.”
Genki Kawamura
“Cats and humans have been partners for over ten thousand years. And what you realize when you've lived with a cat for a long time is that we may think we own them, but that's not the way it is. They simply allow us the pleasure of their company.”
Source: If Cats Disappeared From the World
Dan Greenberg
“There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person.”
William S. Burroughs
“A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.”
Source: The Cat Inside
Neil Gaiman
“But there was a kitten on my pillow, and it was purring in my face and vibrating gently with every purr, and, very soon, I slept.”
Source: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Gwendolyn Brooks
“One reason that cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers.”
Source: In the Mecca
Connie Willis
“Cats, as you know, are quite impervious to threats.”
Source: To Say Nothing of the Dog
George Carlin
“Meow means woof in cat.”
Charles Dickens
“What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
James Herriot
“I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.”
Mark Twain
“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?”
Source: Pudd'nhead Wilson
L.M. Montgomery
“I love (cats), they are so nice and selfish. Dogs are TOO good and unselfish. They make me feel uncomfortable. But cats are gloriously human.”
Source: Anne of the Island
Eckhart Tolle
“I have lived with several Zen masters—all of them cats.”
Source: The Power of Now
Rick Riordan
“My dear, I'm a cat. Everything I see is mine.”
Source: The Red Pyramid
Beverley Nichols
“Let us be honest: most of us rather like our cats to have a streak of wickedness. I should not feel quite easy in the company of any cat that walked around the house with a saintly expression.”
Source: Beverley Nichols’ Cats’ X. Y. Z.
Cleveland Amory
“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 kind.”
Source: The Cat Who Came for Christmas
Bobbie Ann Mason
“One day I was counting the cats and I absent-mindedly counted myself."
Source: Shiloh and Other Stories
Robert A. Heinlein
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
Source: Time Enough for Love
Charles-Bukowski
"when I am feeling
low
all I have to do is
watch my cats
and my
courage
returns."
Source: “My Cats”
P.C. Cast
“I’ve found that the way a person feels about cats—and the way they feel about him or her in return—is usually an excellent gauge by which to measure a person's character.”
Source: Marked
Seanan McGuire
“Cats never listen. They’re dependable that way; when Rome burned, the emperor’s cats still expected to be fed on time.”
Source: Rosemary and Rue
Lilian Jackson Braun
“Dogs have their day but cats have 365.”
Terry Pratchett
“Cats will amusingly tolerate humans only until someone comes up with a tin opener that can be operated with a paw.”
Source: Men at Arms
Peter S. Beagle
“I am what I am. I would tell you what you want to know if I could, for you have been kind to me. But I am a cat, and no cat anywhere ever gave anyone a straight answer.”
Source: The Last Unicorn
Julio Cortázar
“I sometimes longed for someone who, like me, had not adjusted perfectly with his age, and such a person was hard to find; but I soon discovered cats, in which I could imagine a condition like mine, and books, where I found it quite often.”
Source: Around the Day in Eighty Worlds
James Herriot
“Cats are connoisseurs of comfort.”
Source: James Herriot's Cat Stories
Albert Schweitzer
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
Anonymous
“Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God.”
Hippolyte Taine
“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.”
Kingsley Amis
“Cats are only human; they have their faults.”
Sir Walter Scott
“Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.”
Terry Pratchett
“In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.”
John Grogan
“Cats will outsmart dogs every time.”
Mason Cooley
“Cats are inquisitive but hate to admit it.”
William S. Burroughs
"Like all pure creatures, cats are practical."
Source: The Cat Inside
Lewis Carroll
"Your house will always be blessed with love, laughter, and friendship if you have a cat.”
Jane Pauley
“Never trust a man who hate cats.”
William S. Burroughs, Last Words: The Final Journals
“You know a real friend? Someone you know will look after your cat after you are gone.”
Source: Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs
Leonardo da Vinci
“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.”
Ernest Hemingway
“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”
Ben Johnson
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
Ann Taylor
“Dogs eat. Cats dine."
Amy Lee
“I love my cats more than I love most people. Probably more than is healthy.”
Mark Twain
"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."
Mason Cooley
“A happy arrangement: many people prefer cats to other people, and many cats prefer people to other cats.”
Nafisa Joseph
“I used to love dogs until I discovered cats.”
Ernest Hemingway
“One cat just leads to another.”
Source: Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961
Edgar Allan Poe
“I wish that my writing was as mysterious as a cat.”
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