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

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

How like to us is that filthy beast the ape.

A dog starved at his master’s gate / Predicts the ruin of the state.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Happiness is a warm puppy.

One of the animals which a generous and sociable man would soonest become is a dog. A dog can have a friend; he has affections and character; he can enjoy equally the field and the fireside; he dreams, he caresses, he propitiates; he offends and is pardoned; he stands by you in adversity; he is a good fellow.

It is remarkable that only small birds properly sing.