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

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

There are some who, if a cat accidentally comes into the room, though they neither see it nor are told of it, will presently be in a sweat and ready to die away.

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

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

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

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.

Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.

It is remarkable that only small birds properly sing.

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.

Who hears the fishes when they cry?

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

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.