Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes and pompous in the grave.

Man is merely a more perfect animal than the rest. He reasons better.

It is remarkable that only small birds properly sing.

Animals are good to think with.

Of all the creatures that breathe and creep on the surface of the earth, none is more to be pitied than man.

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.

Man is a troublesome animal and therefore is not very manageable.

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.

Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.

Every creature in the world is like a book and a picture, to us, and a mirror.

We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.

Men, my dear, are very queer animals—a mixture of horse nervousness, ass stubbornness, and camel malice.

Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the king’s horses.