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.

Man is no man, but a wolf, to a stranger.

Imitate the ass in his love to his master.

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

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

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.

Keep running after a dog, and he will never bite you.

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.

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 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. 

Man is merely a more perfect animal than the rest. He reasons better.

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

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