Carolyn Gold Heilbrun Quotes

If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along with them as we do with people.

When the dog looks at you, the dog is not thinking what kind of a person you are. The dog is not judging you.

The important thing to remember is that bugs don't actually talk.

Lots of people talk to animals... Not very many listen, though... That's the problem.

Closeness to animals creates the desire to understand them, and not just a little piece of them, but the whole animal. It makes us wonder what goes on in their heads even though we fully realize that the answer can only be approximated.

If dogs could talk it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.

Animals in general have sparked a weird depression in me, because as much as I tried, I couldn't layer a personality over them. You know what I mean? I would stare at the cows, and I would sing to the cows, and they would always just look at me blankly.

If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.

I have come to know Bugs so well that I no longer have to think about what he is doing in any situation.

If it is indeed impossible - or at least very difficult - to inhabit the consciousness of an animal, then in writing about animals there is a temptation to project upon them feelings and thoughts that may belong only to our own human mind and heart.

If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.

The best thing about animals is that they don't talk much.

When a herd of cattle see a strange object, they are not satisfied till each one has sniffed it; and the horse is cured of his fright at the robe, or the meal-bag, or other object, as soon as he can be induced to smell it. There is a great deal of speculation in the eye of an animal, but very little science.

There ain't a man livin' who hasn't talked to his dog.

Sheep are never going to talk to you about cricket.

Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored

When I was younger, I used to drive up to a bunch of turkeys, roll down the window and say something. They'd all gobble back at once.

Anthropomorphism is such an interesting concept. It means projecting human thoughts and emotions onto an animal. Which implies that thoughts and feelings belong to humans alone. Of course, if you believe in evolution, or if you believe in the Bible, that's not so. Both evolution and the Bible tell us that we're part of a family.

You look at a herd of cattle and well, they all look the same... but they know. They all have an individual personality, and those personalities change from day to day. They can have their grumpy days and their happy days and their serene days. But it's unpredictable. You can't be off in outer space when you're dealing with animals.

I never thought I could learn much from a dog or cat. They sleep when we sleep. They eat when we eat. I'm into observing animals being as wild as they can be in a captive environment.

Animals do not admire each other. A horse does not admire its companion.

Dogs and other animals - goats, donkeys, cows, a grumpy rooster - continue to change my writing life.

I remember that. I was talking to him and I said how great it would be if actors had a tail because I have animals and a tail is so expressive. On a cat you can tell everything. You can tell if they're annoyed. You can tell whether they're scared.

The more self-aware an animal is, the more empathetic it tends to be.