Quotes about animals

"Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass."

Addison, Joseph on animals   

"Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing Embraceable You in spats."

Allen, Woody on animals
8 fans of this quote   

"We know what the animals do, what are the needs of the beaver, the bear, the salmon, and other creatures, because long ago men married them and acquired this knowledge from their animal wives. Today the priests say we lie, but we know better."

Americans, Native on animals   

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."

Aristotle on animals
7 fans of this quote   

"Drinking, when we are not thirsty and making love all year round, madam; that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals."

Beaumarchais, Pierre De on animals   

"The dog is the god of frolic."

Beecher, Henry Ward on animals
4 fans of this quote   

"I shoot the Hippopotamus with bullets made of platinum, because if I use the leaden one his hide is sure to flatten em."

Belloc, Hilaire on animals   

"A peasant becomes fond of his pig and is glad to salt away its pork. What is significant, and is so difficult for the urban stranger to understand, is that the two statements are connected by an and not by a but."

Berger, John on animals   

"Bats have no bankers and they do not drink and cannot be arrested and pay no tax and, in general, bats have it made."

Berryman, John on animals   

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself."

Billings, Josh on animals
11 fans of this quote   

"Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them."

Butler, Samuel on animals
3 fans of this quote   

"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg."

Butler, Samuel on animals   

"The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend."

Byron, Lord on animals
5 fans of this quote   

"Animals awaken, first facially, then bodily. Men's bodies wake before their faces do. The animal sleeps within its body, man sleeps with his body in his mind."

Chazal, Malcolm De on animals   

"Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal."

Churchill, Winston on animals
27 fans of this quote   

"What an ugly beast the ape, and how like us."

Cicero, Marcus T. on animals
3 fans of this quote   

"Poor little Foal of an oppressed race! I love the languid patience of thy face."

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor on animals   

"Shall we never have done with that cliche, so stupid that it could only be human, about the sympathy of animals for man when he is unhappy? Animals love happiness almost as much as we do. A fit of crying disturbs them, they'll sometimes imitate sobbing, and for a moment they'll reflect our sadness. But they flee unhappiness as they flee fever, and I believe that in the long run they are capable of boycotting it."

Colette, Sidonie Gabrielle on animals   

"Mankind differs from the animals only by a little and most people throw that away."

Confucius on animals
16 fans of this quote   

"The following general definition of an animal: a system of different organic molecules that have combined with one another, under the impulsion of a sensation similar to an obtuse and muffled sense of touch given to them by the creator of matter as a whole, until each one of them has found the most suitable position for its shape and comfort."

Diderot, Denis on animals   

"Animals are such agreeable friends, they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."

Eliot, George on animals
7 fans of this quote   

"Who can guess how much industry and providence and affection we have caught from the pantomime of brutes?"

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on animals   

"The elephant, not only the largest but the most intelligent of animals, provides us with an excellent example. It is faithful and tenderly loving to the female of its choice, mating only every third year and then for no more than five days, and so secretly as never to be seen, until, on the sixth day, it appears and goes at once to wash its whole body in the river, unwilling to return to the herd until thus purified. Such good and modest habits are an example to husband and wife."

Francis De Sales, St. on animals   

"Animals are in possession of themselves; their soul is in possession of their body. But they have no right to their life, because they do not will it."

Hegel, Georg on animals   

"Animals are stylized characters in a kind of old saga -- stylized because even the most acute of them have little leeway as they play out their parts."

Hoagland, Edward on animals   

"Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people they are an aperture through which wounds drain. The scapegoat of olden times, driven off for the bystanders sins, has become a tender thing, a running injury. There, running away is me: hurt it and you are hurting me."

Hoagland, Edward on animals   

"Nothing to be done really about animals. Anything you do looks foolish. The answer isn't in us. It's almost as if we're put here on earth to show how silly they aren't."

Hoban, Russell on animals   

"Animals often strike us as passionate machines."

Hoffer, Eric on animals   

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings."

Hugo, Victor on animals
5 fans of this quote   

"From the oyster to the eagle, from the swine to the tiger, all animals are to be found in men and each of them exists in some man, sometimes several at the time. Animals are nothing but the portrayal of our virtues and vices made manifest to our eyes, the visible reflections of our souls. God displays them to us to give us food for thought."

Hugo, Victor on animals
3 fans of this quote   

"Cats and monkeys; monkeys and cats; all human life is there."

James, Henry on animals   

"Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it."

Kundera, Milan on animals
4 fans of this quote   

"Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful."

Landers, Ann on animals   

"Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts."

Lawrence, D. H. on animals   

"I distrust camels, and anyone else who can go a week without a drink."

Lewis, Joe E. on animals   

"Animals are considered as property only. To destroy or to abuse them, from malice to the proprietor, or with an intention injurious to his interest in them, is criminal. But the animals themselves are without protection. The law regards them not substantively. They have no RIGHTS!"

Lord, Shirley on animals
3 fans of this quote   

"Eagles do not beget Doves."

Motto on animals   

"The cow is of the bovine ilk: One end is moo, the other, milk."

Nash, Ogden on animals   

"I fear animals regard man as a creature of their own kind which has in a highly dangerous fashion lost its healthy animal reason -- as the mad animal, as the laughing animal, as the weeping animal, as the unhappy animal."

Nietzsche, Friedrich on animals
3 fans of this quote   

"Happiness to a dog is what lies on the other side of a door."

Ogburn, Charleton Jr. on animals