ROGER CARAS

Some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place in museums; others, we take for walks.

I am as confounded by dogs as I am indebted to them.

There are only three sins - causing pain, causing fear, and causing anguish. The rest is window dressing.

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

If you don't own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life.

Cats don't like change without their consent.

We are all pirates at heart. There is not one of us who hasn't had a little larceny in his soul. And which one of us wouldn't soar if God had thought there was merit in the idea? So, when we see one of those great widespread pirates soaring across the grain of sea winds we thrill, and we long, and, if we are honest, we curse that we must be men every day. Why not one day a bird! There's an idea, now, one day out of seven a pirate in the sky. What puny power a man can attain by comparison. Compare a 747 with a bird and blush!

It's our mortality that terrifies us, because what we're really seeking is immortality - that is, after all, a fool's errand.

Anyone who has owned many cats in long succession can define his or her life as a series of furry episodes.

It doesn't matter where you are in your own personal development, nor has it mattered where you have been culturally; dogs simply don't pass judgment on you the way all of the rest of life and all your other companions seem to.

We derive immeasurable good, uncounted pleasures, enormous security, and many critical lessons about life by owning dogs.

I always thought that my canine family tended to view me as the funny-looking two-legged dog who runs the can opener.

Try throwing a ball just once for a dog. It would be like eating only one peanut or potato chip. Try to ignore the importuning of a Golden Retriever who has brought you his tennis ball, the greatest treasure he possesses!

Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made.

We are the ones who have high blood pressure, ulcers, and heart attacks, not cats.

Cats are a tonic, they are a laugh, they are a cuddle, they are at least pretty just about all of the time and beautiful some of the time.

Being patted is what it is all about.

Cats make one of the most satisfying sounds in the world: they purr. [...] Almost all cats make us feel good about ourselves because they let us know they feel good about us, about themselves, and about our relationship with them. A purring cat is a form of high praise, like a gold star on a test paper. It is a reinforcement of soemthing we would all like to believe about ourselves -- that we are nice.

For me a house or an apartment becomes a home when you add one set of four legs, a happy tail, and that indescribable measure of love that we call a dog.

Two would actually do it- two magic words that could replace all the religions in the world- two wonderful words that embrace all the powers and all of the energy we need to survive with each other and with our planet and with all the world's living creatures- don't hurt.

Cats can be cooperative when something feels good, which, to a cat, is the way everything is supposed to feel as much of the time as possible.

It looks like a miniature hippopotamus with badly-fitting panty hose all over.

Cats virtually always underestimate human intelligence just as we, perhaps, underestimate theirs.

Why cat were given such terrific peripheral vision when they spend so much time looking down their noses is difficult to understand.

Generally, or at least very often, people with a deep interest in animals are the best people around.