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

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

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all. 

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 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.

A good dog, sir, deserves a good bone.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.

Who hears the fishes when they cry?