Get Cozy with a Cat on Your Lap and Enjoy These Cat Quotes
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From the first signs of fall through winter’s chill and into the cool, jacket-weather days of early spring, the cozy season is prime for cat cuddling—the best gift a cat lover could ask for. Yes, I know it’s simply my body warmth drawing my fur babies in, much like a sunny patch by a window calls them to stretch out for a sun nap. But you know what? I’ll take it! However, more time spent sitting with a cat on my lap means I need to find ways to fill the time. Reading is an ideal choice, and these cat quotes make perfect fodder.
As you probably already know, cats are awesome. As it so happens, many literary types through the ages have recognized this too and recorded their observations in books, essays, poems, and interviews, adding up to a trove of great cat quotes for posterity to enjoy. Another great source? Instagram—and believe me when I say I follow a lot of cat accounts. When I see a post that transcends the category of creative cat captions and enters the realm of truly quote-worthy—we’re talking top tier of the cat-tree stuff—I save it so I can share it with you.
So what are you waiting for? Scroll on through these 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.
More essential reads for cat folks:
Keep Your Cat Out of the Christmas Tree with a Festive Cat Tower
13 Dapper Black and White Cat Breeds That Look Like They're Dressed to the Nines
Bill Dana
“I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days.”
Forrest | Mickey and Mort
“Cat fact: Once you own a cat, the probability that you bring up cats in conversation increases by 200%.”
Instagram: @mickeyandmort
Mango, Snickers, and Kiwi
“One cat won’t fix all your problems… but three might.”
Instagram: @mangosnickerskiwi
Pizza & Luna Cats
“Everyone talks about their first love, but no one talks about the first cat they get in their 20s that teach them the true meaning of unconditional love.”
Instagram: @pizza_and_luna
Yuki
“The word ‘homeowner’ has the word ‘meow’ in it. Good luck pronouncing it correctly ever again.”
Instagram: @mom_says_im_cute
Lola and Poppy
“I know there’s cat hair all over my home, but I don’t really care. It’s called FURniture for a reason.”
Instagram: @lola_and_popps
Syou Ishida
“You know the old saying: ‘A cat a day keeps the doctor away.’ ”
Source: We’ll Prescribe You a Cat
Syou Ishida
“As Bee lapped at her water, he scratched her head, and her eyes fluttered shut as if she was basking in bliss. It truly felt like if he could just get through today, he would find his way.”
Source: We’ll Prescribe You a Cat
David Wood
“Look into the eyes of a cat for a moment. Your gaze will flicker between recognizing another being, and staring into a void.”
Source: “If a Cat Could Talk”
David Wood
“Each cat is a singular being — a pulsing centre of the universe — with this colour eyes, this length and density of fur, this palate of preferences, habits and dispositions. Each with his own idiosyncrasies.”
Source: “If a Cat Could Talk”
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
Syou Ishida
“Bee pressed gently but persistently until he gave her more pets.”
Source: We’ll Prescribe You a Cat
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
Syou Ishida
“It seemed that having a pet disrupted the flow of one’s daily routine.
‘Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.’ ”
Source: We’ll Prescribe You a Cat
Albert Schweitzer
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
James Herriot
“Cats are connoisseurs of comfort.”
Source: James Herriot's Cat Stories
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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