International Cat Day is marked across the globe on Aug. 8 to celebrate cats, the world's favorite pet.

The day was first marked by IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, in 2002 to raise awareness about the needs and preferences of cats, and to inspire their owners to strengthen their bonds with their pets.

Some countries celebrate World Cat Day on Feb. 17, while the United States dedicates Oct. 29 as National Cat Day.

Here are some quotes about felines, collected from Goodreads and BrainyQuote to share on this day.

1. "What greater gift than the love of a cat?" — Charles Dickens

2. "Time spent with a cat is never wasted." — Colette

3. "A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not." — Ernest Hemingway

4. "Cats do care. For example, they know instinctively what time we have to be at work in the morning and they wake us up twenty minutes before the alarm goes off." — Michael Nelson

5. "You cannot look at a sleeping cat and feel tense." — Jane Pauley

6. "In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this." — Terry Pratchett

7. "Cats know how to obtain food without labor, shelter without confinement, and love without penalties." — Walter Lionel George

8. "How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven." — Robert A. Heinlein

9. "Cats have it all — admiration, an endless sleep and company only when they want it." — Rod McKuen

10. "If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they, too, would purr." — Martin Buxbaum

11. "I love them, they are so nice and selfish. Dogs are too good and unselfish. They make me feel uncomfortable. But cats are gloriously human." — L.M. Montgomery

12. "Cats never listen. They're dependable that way; when Rome burned, the emperor's cats still expected to be fed on time." — Seanan McGuire

13. "My relationships with my cats has saved me from a deadly, pervasive ignorance." — William S. Burroughs

14. "Cats are anthropomorphized in art because they are so laid back that you automatically attribute human thoughts and feelings to them." — Jim Davis

15. "I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." — Hippolyte Taine

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