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.

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

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.

The elephant, although a gross beast, is yet the most decent and most sensible of any other upon earth. Although he never changes his female, and hath so tender a love for her whom he hath chosen, yet he never couples with her but at the end of every three years, and then only for the space of five days.

It is remarkable that only small birds properly sing.

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

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

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

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.

Who hears the fishes when they cry?

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

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

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?