Archive

Quotes

What delight can there be, and not rather displeasure, in hearing the barking and howling of dogs? Or what greater pleasure is there to be felt when a dog followeth a hare than when a dog followeth a dog?

—Thomas More, 1516

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.

—William Hazlitt, 1819

It is remarkable that only small birds properly sing.

—Charles Darwin, 1871

In every man is a wild beast; most of them don’t know how to hold it back, and the majority give it full rein when they are not restrained by terror of law.

—Frederick the Great, 1759

Animals are good to think with.

—Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1962

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

—T. H. Huxley, 1895

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. 

—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1821

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

—Winston Churchill, 1945

I hate the sight of monkeys; they remind me so of poor relations.

—Henry Luttrell, 1820

If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail.

—Fran Lebowitz, 1981

Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.

—Alexander Pope, 1709

Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise.

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

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

—Samuel Butler, c. 1890