Previously, we featured some of our favorite funny quotes about books from writers past and present. Now, it’s the cats turn. Many authors have owned cats, and many authors have written entire books about cats, so it’s no surprise to learn that there are many wise, witty, funny, and true quotes about cats to be found in the world of literature.
here are 13 of the best literary quotes about cats.
You are reading: Cats and books quotes
michel de montaigne: ‘when i play with my cat, who knows if i’m not more of a hobby for her than she is for me?’
Montaigne, the pioneer of the revival of the essay form, liked to observe his pets and try to inhabit their point of view. here, he reflects on the cat’s perspective of him, in book ii, chapter 12 of the essais of him (1595).
Douglas Adams: ‘I think all cats are wild. They only act tame if there’s a saucer of milk in it for them.’
In addition to writing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Adams (1952-2001) also wrote Last Chance to See (1991), an entertaining nonfiction book on endangered species.
In this cat quote, one of several classic adams cat quotes, he muses on feral cats, but then considers all cats, even domestic ones, as potentially feral.
robert heinlein: ‘how we behave towards cats down here determines our status in heaven’.
This is one of the most popular cat quotes found in numerous online dating books and lists. It’s taken from Heinlein’s 1987 science fiction novel To Sail Beyond the Sunset.
See Also: 10 Best Board Games Based On Books | 2021 Definitive Ranked List | Board Game Halv
emily brontë: ‘i can honestly say i love cats; plus I’m going to give very good reasons why the haters are wrong.’
Who would have thought that, in addition to writing one of the most notable novels of the Victorian era, Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (1818-48) also wrote an essay titled “The Cat”? it is from this essay that the above quote about cats is taken.
mark twain: ‘of all god’s creatures, there is only one who cannot be a slave to the whip’. if the man could interbreed with the cat, he would improve the man, but deteriorate the cat”.
twain, who was photographed numerous times with cats, clearly adored and respected them. this comment is found in his 1894 notebooks.
hippolyte taine: ‘I have studied many philosophers and many cats. the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.”
In the original French, this quote reads: ‘j’ai beaucoup étudié les philosophes et les chats. la sagesse des chats est infiniment supérieure.’ taine (1828-93) was a French critic, historian, and philosopher; this quote is from his 1858 book, vie et opinion philosophiques d’un chat.
ernest hemingway: ‘a cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, can hide their feelings, but a cat cannot.’
hemingway told his brother leicester this, and it is well known that hemingway kept many cats (with a certain breed of six-toed cat even called the “hemingway cat” because of the author’s association with them).
william burroughs: ‘the cat does not offer services. the cat offers.’
This is a series of wise and true quotes about cats from William Burroughs, the author of Naked Lunch, among many other things. The above quote, like many of Burroughs’ other classic cat quotes, is taken from his prose poem The Cat Within.
See Also: 9 Best Books About the Charles Manson and the Family Murders – Rolling Stone
margaret benson: ‘the cat is, above all, a playwright’.
This quote is taken from The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories, a 1901 collection by Benson. he goes on to explain, “her life is lived in an endless romance, although the drama takes place on a very different stage from ours, and we only enter it as subordinate characters, as stage managers or, rather, stage carpenters.” /p>
t. yes eliot: ‘when a cat adopts you, and i’m not superstitious at all, i don’t just mean black cats, there’s nothing to do about it except suck it up and wait until the wind turns’
In a December 1936 letter, Eliot, the author of The Old Possum’s Book of Handy Cats, which features Macavity, Bustopher Jones, and a host of other felines, wrote Polly Tandy with this wisdom. Anyone who has ever been adopted by a cat who lives elsewhere will know how true this is!
jeronimo k. jerome: ‘a cat, she has her own opinion about human beings. she doesn’t say much, but you can say enough to make you anxious not to hear everything.’
Jerome is best remembered for his 1889 comic novel Three Men in a Boat, subtitled “not to mention the dog.” but he also offered this witty quote about cats, found in his novel notes. the quote sums up the enigmatic and rather haughty attitude of cats towards their human “masters” (really servants?).
anne enright: ‘cats, i always think, they just jump into your lap to check if you’re still cold enough to eat’.
enright (b. 1962) is best known for her 2007 novel the gathering, and it is from that novel that this quote is taken.
terry pratchett: “Cats will hilariously tolerate humans only until someone comes up with a can opener that can be operated with one paw.”
The late Sir Terry Pratchett was not only an excellent fantasy author, but one of the most popular comic book authors writing in English since p. gram. wooden house.
He was also a great lover of cats, though he could clearly see past their cute faces and see them as the superior, dismissive creatures they often are, as this quote from his novel Men-at-Arms demonstrates.
See Also: The 50 best science fiction and fantasy books of the past decade : NPR