Top 10 Quotes by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

As the cherub is to the angel, so the cat is to the tiger.

As the cherub is to the angel, so the cat is to the tiger.

Cat, Angel, Cherubs

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (2001). “The Tribe of Tiger”, p.11, Simon and Schuster

People can be a fine substitute for other dogs. But I think that if they had to choose, dogs by and large would choose the company of other dogs.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Dog, Thinking, People

I saw that animals were important. I saw that plants were even more important. I was also to learn that compared to many of the other species, we weren't important at all except for the damage we do. We do not rule the natural world, despite our conspicuous position in it. On the contrary, it is our lifeline, and we do well to try to understand its rules.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Animal, Important, Trying

What do dogs want? They want each other. Human beings are merely a cynomorphic substitute.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Dog, Want, Substitutes

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (1996). “The Hidden Life Of Dogs”, p.134, Simon and Schuster

In truth, most of us don't know our cats.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Cat, Knows

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (2001). “The Tribe of Tiger”, p.13, Simon and Schuster

Dogs who chase cars evidently see them as large, unruly ungulates badly in need of discipline and shepherding.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Funny, Dog, Discipline

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (2010). “The Hidden Life of Dogs”, p.36, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In the past even scientists have been led to believe that only human beings have thoughts or emotions. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth... After all, thoughts and emotions have evolutionary value.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Believe, Past, Emotion

We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Dog, Cat, Hierarchy

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (2001). “The Tribe of Tiger”, p.71, Simon and Schuster

To write a book such as Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn is a formidable undertaking. You must accumulate thousands of facts and spare no detail, no matter how terrible. It is always easier to write a piece of fluff and leave everybody smiling. But then, the horrors of poaching would continue unchallenged?like as tent caterpillars consuming an apple orchard, our species mindlessly consumes the others of the earth. At present, the most significant hope for our planet may be knowledge, and Richard Ellis has done a heroic job in providing a large measure of that.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Jobs, Book, Writing