I do not mean to call an elephant a vulgar animal, but if you think about him carefully, you will find that his nonvulgarity consists in such gentleness as is possible to elephantine nature—not in his insensitive hide, nor in his clumsy foot, but in the way he will lift his foot if a child lies in his way; and in his sensitive trunk, and still more sensitive mind, and capability of pique on points of honor.

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 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.

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

A good dog, sir, deserves a good bone.

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. 

Animals are good to think with.

An ape will be an ape, though clad in purple.

There are some who, if a cat accidentally comes into the room, though they neither see it nor are told of it, will presently be in a sweat and ready to die away.

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

Who sleepeth with dogs shall rise with fleas.

Cows are among the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them—and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures.

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.