These 15 of the best literary quotes about cats pay homage to our feline friends, the regal, independent, loveable, and mischievous cat. Also, if you’re a cat person, then you will want to check out these purr-fectly selected top 10 cats in literature.

1. “There are two means of refuge from the misery of life—music and cats.”―Albert Schweitzer, author of Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography

2. “Meow” means “woof” in cat.”―George Carlin, author of Last Words

3. “Cats are connoisseurs of comfort.”―James Herriot, James Herriot’s Cat Stories

4. “Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”―Robert A. Heinlein, author of Starship Troopers

5. “What greater gift than the love of a cat.”―Charles Dickens, author of Great Expectations

6. “A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”―Ernest Hemingway, author of The Old Man and The Sea

7. “Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.”―Christopher Hitchens, The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever

8. “One day I was counting the cats and I absent-mindedly counted myself.”―Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh and Other Stories

9. “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, author of The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

10. “If cats looked like frogs we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That’s what people remember.”―Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

11. “I would like to see anyone, prophet, king or God, convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time.”―Neil Gaiman, author of The Ocean at the End of the Lane

12. “I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.”―Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

13. “The smallest feline is a masterpiece.”―Leonardo da Vinci, author of Leonardo’s Notebooks: Writing and Art of the Great Master

14. “Time spent with a cat is never wasted.”―Colette, author of The Collected Stories of Colette

15. “I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.”―Jean Cocteau, author of The Holy Terrors

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Related: 5 Must-Read Fiction Books Featuring Cats and 12 Reasons Why Cats Love Books