Reflections on life. Collections of inspirational quotes. Rediscovering relationships and faith.
Posted in ANIMAL, CAT, CAT QUOTES, Lessons from cats on Oct 8th, 2008 No Comments »
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
“Never saying a word too much”, is one wisdom I discovered from my birman cat. I have come to understand its purring which means happiness or is in a traumatic or painful situation.
How do we, humans react in such conditions? We tend to complicate our emotions! Our relationship is often mixed with lack of trust, fear of loss of control, hesitancy to expose our vulnerability, doubt, and a resistance to relinquishing our own self-interest. What do we do then? We talk a lot! We want to be the center of attention. We want to inflict pain on someone else…verbal pain, especially when we are angry or hurt. We want to control the conversation or situation.
It is like the cat’s way of hissing. Unfiltered words can destroy a relationship. We should learn to put a lid on our lips and practice self-control.
We should know that the world around us has an intense charm to reap what we sow .
When we hiss, the world tends to hiss back. When we criticise, condemn, attack, act self-righteously, etc. we tend to see that strongly coming back at us like an enormous mirror.
Conversely, when we begin to purr, when we begin to show some understanding and even appreciation of the other, that is the energy that tends to come back at us. Then the situation can spiral upward.
This fundamental concept applies to anything whatsoever—to any dispute, to any situation, to any relationship of whatever nature, to any feeling or thought that shows up inside of us—to anything at all.
This fable reminded me again the value of talking less. As Kathrine Palmer Peterson said: “Our words should be purrs instead of hisses. ”
“Lord, grant me the help of your Spirit to think about my words before they leave my mouth forever. Give me such love for You and others that I speak with THEM in mind, and not just myself. When I would speak angrily, grant me grace to put a lid on it! May I be seen and HEARD as wise because of both the QUALITY and QUANTITY of my words. Amen.”
CAT QUOTE
A cat’s got her own opinion of human beings. She don’t say much, but you can tell enough to make you anxious not to hear the whole of it. –Jerome K. Jerome
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” – Leonardo da Vinci
In a cat’s eye, all things belong to cats.” – English Proverb
Cats know how to obtain food without labor, shelter without confinement and love without penalties.”
– W. L. George
The cat seldom interferes with other people’s rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life.” – Carl Van Vechten
Beware of people who dislike cats.” – Irish Proverb
You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.” – Colonial American Proverb
With the qualities of cleanliness, affection, patience, dignity, and courage that cats have, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?” – Fernand Mery
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” – Winston Churchill
If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.” – Doris Lessing
I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.” – Hippolyte Taine
A meow massages the heart.” – Stuart McMillan
If there is one spot of sun spilling onto the floor, a cat will find it and soak it up. –J.A. McIntosh
If the pull of the outside world is strong, there is also a pull towards the human. The cat may disappear on its own errands, but sooner or later, it returns once again for a little while, to greet us with its own type of love. –Lloyd Alexander
A cat improves the garden wall in sunshine, and the hearth in foul weather. –Judith Merkle Riley
I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat. –Edgar Allan Poe
The cat seldom interferes with other people’s rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life. –Carl Van Vechten
Of all God’s creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.” – Mark Twain
With their qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?” – Fernand Mery Her Majesty the Cat
I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.” – Hippolyte Taine
Actually, cats do this to protect you from gnomes who come and steal your breath while you sleep. – John Dobbin
Don’t think that I’m silly for liking it, I just happen to like the simple little things, and I love cats! – Michelle Gardner
Everything I know I learned from my cat: When you’re hungry, eat. When you’re tired, nap in a sunbeam. When you go to the vet’s, pee on your owner. – Gary Smith
Cats come and go without ever leaving. –Martha Curtis
God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things. – Pablo Picasso
A dog will flatter you but you have to flatter the cat.”- George Mikes
You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals.”- George Mikes
You own a dog but you feed a cat.”- Jenny de Vries
Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia. –Joseph Wood Krutch
After scolding one’s cat one looks into its face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word. And has filed it for reference. –Charlotte Gray
Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.” – Anonymous
A cat sees no good reason why it should obey another animal, even if it does stand on two legs.”- Sarah Thompson
Cats are kindly masters, just so long as you remember your place.”- Paul Gray
One must love a cat on its own terms.”- Paul Gray
For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat.” – Anon
When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me? –Michel de Montaigne, Essays, 1580
“I love cats because I love my home and after a while they become its visible soul.”- Jean Cocteau
No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.” – Abraham Lincoln
There are two means of refuge from the misery of life – music and cats.” – Albert Schweitzer
There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.”- Tay Hohoff
God made the cat in order that humankind might have the pleasure of caressing the tiger.”- Fernand Mery
Way down deep, we’re all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them.”
– Jim Davis
Kittens are born with their eyes shut. They open them in about six days, take a look around, then close them again for the better part of their lives. –Stephen Baker
I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days. –Bill Dana
Your cat will never threaten your popularity by barking at three in the morning. He won’t attack the mailman or eat the drapes, although he may climb the drapes to see how the room looks from the ceiling. –Helen Powers
A dog, I have always said, is prose; a cat is a poem. –Jean Burden
The cat is the only animal without visible means of support who still manages to find a living in the city. –Carl van Vechten
• “Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”– Unknown
• “Dogs have owners, cats have staff.” – Unknown
One reason we admire cats is for their proficiency in one-upmanship. They always seem to come out on top, no matter what they are doing, or pretend they do.”- Barbara Webster