Each morning as I stand at my desk writing, I have a companion, sometimes two. I cannot imagine writing now without having a cat with me. A cat is the perfect companion for a writer.

Because the literary relationship between cats and writers is such a natural one, it is not surprising to discover that there are a wealth of quotes by writers about their cats.

Here are a few of my favorite Literary Cat Quotes.

Enjoy!

Literary Cat Quotes

“Authors like cats because they are such quiet, loveable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.”  ~ Robertson Davies

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“What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing of the origin and destiny of cats?”  ~ Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau Journal 9

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“When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction.”  ~ Mark Twain

“If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.”  ~ Mark Twain

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“When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not more of a pastime to her than she is to me?”   ~ Montaigne

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“If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.”  ~ Doris Lessing

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“How we behave toward cats here below determines our place in heaven.”  ~ Robert Heinlein

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“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”  ~ Ernest Hemingway

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“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.”  Jean Cocteau

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“Holding up my, purring cat to the moon, I sighed.”  ~ Jack Kerouac

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“I think all cats are wild. They only act tame if there’s a saucer of milk in it for them.”  ~ Douglas Adams

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“Books. Cats. Life is good.”  ~ Edward Gorey

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“The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself”  ~ William S. Burroughs

“My relationships with my cats has saved me from a deadly, pervasive ignorance.”  ~ William S. Burroughs

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“I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.”  ~ Edgar Allan Poe

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“There are no ordinary cats” ~ Colette

“Time spent with a cat is never wasted.”  ~ Colette

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“I write so much because my cat sits on my lap. She purrs so I don’t want to get up. She’s so much more calming than my husband.”  Joyce Carol Oates

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“I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through.”  ~ Jules  Verne

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“What greater gift than the love of a cat.” ~ Charles Dickens

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