As the cherub is to the angel, so the cat is to the tiger. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas More Quotes by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas More Quotes From Elizabeth Marshall Thomas 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 importantanimaltrying 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 dogpeoplethinking 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 emotionbelievepast Dogs who chase cars evidently see them as large, unruly ungulates badly in need of discipline and shepherding. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas disciplinedogfunny 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 writingjobsbook What do dogs want? They want each other. Human beings are merely a cynomorphic substitute. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas substitutesdogwant 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 hierarchycatdog No cat purrs unless someone is around to listen. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas cat In truth, most of us don't know our cats. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas catknows I always thought of deer as solitary animals that weren't very interesting. But my goodness, that was very wrong. The big eye-opener for me was that they're social. They have family groups. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas thoughtmealwaysfamily Animals need to understand other species, if only to prey on them or escape from them. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas escapeanimalsneedunderstand Hundreds of species are facing extinction due to human impacts on the environment. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas humanextinctionspeciesenvironment You can look at your dog and see that it's thinking and has strong feelings. And if it does, so do wolves. And if wolves do, so do elephants. People aren't the only beings that think and feel. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas youdogpeoplethinking I don't mind aging - I'm glad to be aging. I'll never die young. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas dieneveragingmind In my cosmology, indigenous wild deer are more important than exotic ornamental shrubs. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas wildmoredeerimportant Besides individual things like thunder and gunshots, what dogs fear most is not belonging, being alone. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas alonebelongingbeing-alonefear Veterinarians are essential allies to the millions of us who experience the human-animal bond. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas bonduswhoexperience We are surely the primary agent of death for all members of the cat tribe. For many if not most cat species, our depredations must surpass accidents, disease, and even starvation by a considerable margin. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas tribeaccidentsdiseasedeath The story of cats is a story of meat. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas catsstorymeat As far as I'm concerned, I own my dogs as I own my body. My legs are with me when I take a shower, and I feel no shame. If I were to lose one, I'd grieve, and people would send sympathy cards, but it would be my condition that evoked the sympathy, not the fate of the leg. That's like losing a dog. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas feelmedogpeople
