Why We Love Cat Proverbs So Much
Over the past few months, I’ve noticed something curious. Among all the blog posts I’ve shared on my pet portrait website — whether it’s behind-the-scenes insights, pet related info, or my own art journey — two are getting almost as many clicks and views as my home page. What are they? The ones on cat proverbs and cat sayings.
That should not come as too much of a surprise. After all, if there's one creature that demands to be quoted, admired, and mythologised, it’s the cat. Even on the internet they manage to sit themselves at the very centre of our attention!
But it got me thinking, why are so many of us searching for cat proverbs? Here is what I’ve come up with — and why I think these whiskered words of wisdom resonate so widely:
1. Cats Are Thoughtful
Cats are thoughtful. Not so much thoughtful as in considerate, rather thoughtful as in sage-like. With their slow blinks, intense stares, and solitary meditations, cats can seem “alone, important and wise.” They don’t just sit — they preside. They don’t just walk — they glide. Like T.S Eliot’s Macavity, it can seem like their “brow is deeply lined with thought.” They’re like little gurus perched on the windowsill, silently assessing our life choices. Proverbs, therefore, feel like a natural extension of their poised and mysterious nature.
2. Cats Are Confident
Cats are confident and self-assured. Even the more timid ones know their own minds and are not easily swayed by other people’s opinions. They are independent thinkers who don’t follow orders unless they happen to align with their own important plans. That kind of self-assured confidence makes them seem an authoritative source of truth — ideal vehicles for bold, pithy sayings.
3. Cats Are Relatable
As a band of cool cats once sung, “Everybody want’s to be a cat” and they had a point. Cats are free. They sleep when they want, eat when they want, and disappear mysteriously when they want. Their laziness feels luxurious, their self-possession aspirational. We admire these “connoisseurs of comfort” because, deep down, many of us long to be more like them. Their behaviour mirrors our hopes and insecurities — which helps makes their sayings so enjoyably relatable.
4. Cats Are Lovable
We listen to those we love, and us cat lovers are besotted. Love can make someone’s words seem warm and wise and somehow these “tiny criminal[s]…steal your heart.” Even when they act completely indifferent to us (though they may not be - they are just facultatively social!) we still love them, and so hang on their every word, whisker-twitch and ear-swivel. Our emotional connection to cats, therefore, makes us more likely to project depth, humour, and wisdom onto them — and search the internet for more!
More cat proverbs needed!
From “let sleeping dogs lie” to “the early bird catches the worm (but the second mouse gets the cheese!)” animal proverbs have always been a store house of wisdom and helped us make sense of life. Cats are an essential creature in this mythic menagerie adding a touch of elegance, mystery, and mischief into the mix.
Their proverbs are popular because they blend truth with humour and wisdom with wit. They seem to hint at a deeper, more authentic way of being — one we can only aspire to. But as I researched these feline phrases, I realised something: there simply aren’t enough of them! Cats have so much character and personality that we have not even begun to exhaust them as a source of inspiration and insight. So, in my next blog I’m going to share some new, completely made up cat proverbs with you and release them into the wild!