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

The fox knows lots of tricks, the hedgehog only one—but it’s a winner.

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

Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals—except the weasel.

Animals are good to think with.

Do you not see how God is praised by those in the heavens and those on earth? The very birds praised Him as they wing their way.

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.

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

Happiness is a warm puppy.

Man and animals are really the conduit of food, the sepulcher of animals, and resting place of the dead, one causing the death of the other, making themselves the covering for the corruption of other dead bodies.

A bull contents himself with one meadow, and one forest is enough for a thousand elephants; but the little body of a man devours more than all other living creatures.

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

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