The dog: man's best metaphor
January 18th 2009 08:06
Dogs are man's best metaphor.
Our canine friends have been used by Shakespeare to evoke fate and war, by politicians to insult other politicians, and by wits through the ages to exemplify everything from philosophy to fecklessness.
Here are a few of the better known literary references to dogs.
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The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet
Cry "Havoc", and let slip the dogs of war.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Julius Caesar
He has all the characteristics of a dog except loyalty.
Samuel Houston (1793-1863) of Thomas Jefferson
The more one gets to know of men, the more one values dogs.
A. Toussenel (1803-85), L'Esprit des bętes (1847)
I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) attrib.
A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
Ogden Nash (1902-71), A Dog's Best Friend is his Illiteracy (1953)
That indefatigable and unsavoury engine of pollution, the dog.
John Sparrow (1906-92), letter to The Times (1975)
Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad.
Leo Rosten (1908-97), of W.C. Fields (1939)
Cats and dogs amicably embracing before a grate of glowing coals exist chiefly in the reckless imagination of the greeting card artist, who does nothing for credibility by adding 'Good pals' in flowing script.
Fran Lebowitz (1946- ), Social Studies (1981)
All bachelors love dogs, and we would love children just as much if they could be taught to retrieve.
P.J. O'Rourke (1947- ), Parliament of Whores (1991)
Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations, The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations; image: blog.nola.com
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"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
- Groucho Marx