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If you love dogs, you've come to the right place for great quotes about the godly canines that truly are man's best friend. Enjoy, and please share widely!

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

--Roger Caras

I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.

--Rita Rudner

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as much as the dog does.

--Christopher Morley

An old dog does not bark in vain.

--Spanish Proverb

Only a dog would lick a finger pointed in anger.

--Jason Thomas

The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master.

--Ben Hur Lampman

To chase a dog is merely to teach it to run away.

--Eric Knight

Old age means realizing you will never own all the dogs you wanted to.

--Joe Gores

The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind.

--Theodorus Gaza

A man's soul can be judged by the way he treats his dog.

--Charles Doran

You can take a dog outside, but you can't make it pee.

--Micah Amyx

Understanding your dog and knowing how to control him, develop his potentials, and resolve behavior problems, emotional conflicts and frustrations are no less essential than love and respect.

--Michael W. Fox

Saving one dog will not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever.

--Karen Davison

A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than an owner can express with his tongue in hours.

--Karen Davison

Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, Filling an emptiness we don't even know we have.

--Thom Jones

My dear old dog, most constant of all friends.

--William Croswell Doane

A puppy is but a god, plus high spirits, and minus common sense.

--Agnes Repplier

Our dogs will love and admire the meanest of us, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage.

--Agnes Repplier

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

--Anatole France

The life of a good dog is like the life of a good person, only shorter and more compressed.

--Anna Quindlen

Dogs are the closest we come to knowing the divine love of God on this side of eternity.

--Anne Lamott

A good dog deserves a good bone.

--Ben Jonson

Take personal responsibility. A lot of people go, 'Well, I'll get a dog because I have a kid and a kid needs a dog.' And it doesn't work out for that dog and the dog is on the street.

--Betty White

The reason I love my dog so much is because when I come home, he's the only one in the world who treats me like I'm the Beatles.

--Bill Maher

Before you get a dog, you can't quite imagine what living with one might be like; afterward, you can't imagine living any other way.

--Caroline Knapp

Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog its day.

--Charles Kingsley

When a man tries to communicate with an animal, there's a relationship between them, and you generally find this between the dog and his master.

--David Seltzer

One of the greatest gifts we receive from dogs is the tenderness they evoke in us.

--Dean Koontz

Longer Version:

One of the greatest gifts we receive from dogs is the tenderness they evoke in us. The disappointments of life, the injustices, the battering events that are beyond our control, and the betrayals we endure, from those we befriended and loved, can make us cynical and turn our hearts into flint -- on which only the matches of anger and bitterness can be struck into flame. By their delight in being with us, the reliable sunniness of their disposition, the joy they bring to playtime, the curiosity with which they embrace each new experience, dogs can melt cynicism,and sweeten the bitter heart.


A good dog is one of the best things of all to be.

--Dean Koontz

Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.

--Dean Koontz

Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself.

--Dean Koontz

Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished.

--Dean Koontz

A dog with a bone knows no friend.

--Dutch Proverb

My little dog -- a heartbeat at my feet.

--Edith Wharton

Anyone who has a dog knows that they have some very deep thoughts, that they have moods and emotions, they get their feelings hurt. It's not a far reach to give them opinions and values and long-term desires.

--Garth Stein

He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant.

--Gene Hill

No one can fully understand the meaning of love unless he's owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.

--Gene Hill

No man can fully understand the meaning of love unless he's owned by a dog.

--Gene Hill

Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies.

--Gene Hill

With eye upraised his master's look to scan, The joy, the solace, and the aid of man: The rich man's guardian and the poor man's friend, The only creature faithful to the end.

--George Crabbe

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, .they are the role model for being alive.

--Gilda Radner

I wish all men were like dogs.

--Halle Berry

Of course what he most intensely dreams of is being taken out on walks, and the more you are able to indulge him the more will he adore you and the more all the latent beauty of his nature will come out.

--Henry James

As the hound, so the pup.

--Irish Proverb

A dog does not flee from a bone.

--Irish Proverb

If I have any beliefs about immortality it is that certain dogs I know will go to heaven, and very very few people.

--James Thurber

Man is troubled by what might be called the Dog Wish, a strange and involved compulsion to be as happy and carefree as a dog.

--James Thurber

A wet dog is lovingest.

--James Thurber

The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.

--James Thurber

The dog has got more fun out of Man than Man has got out of the dog, for the clearly demonstrable reason that Man is the more laughable of the two animals.

--James Thurber

Even the smallest dog can lift its leg on the tallest building.

--Jim Hightower

Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives.

--John Galsworthy

A dog is not 'almost human' and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such.

--John Holmes

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.

--Josh Billings

If you want a friend, buy a dog.

--Kevin O'Leary

There is only one smartest dog in the world, and every boy has it.

--Louis Sabin

The more I see of man, the more I like dogs.

--Madame de Stael

I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.

--Mark Haddon

A good dog never dies.

--Mary Carolyn Davies

Longer Version:

A good dog never dies. He always stays. He walks besides you on crisp autumn days when frost is on the fields and winter's drawing near. His head is within our hand in his old way.


I have a little dog who likes to nap with me.
He climbs on my body and puts his face in my neck.
He is sweeter than soap.
He is more wonderful than a diamond necklace,
which can't even bark.

--Mary Oliver

The dog who meets with a good master is the happier of the two.

--Maurice Maeterlinck

We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet; and amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog has made an alliance with us.

--Max De Pree

The love between dog and man is idyllic, dogs were never expelled from paradise.

--Milan Kundera

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace.

--Milan Kundera

Heaven is a place where all the dogs you've ever loved come to greet you.

--Oliver Gaspirtz

Our German forefathers had a very kind religion. They believed that, after death, they would meet again all the good dogs that had been their companions in life. I wish I could believe that too.

--Otto von Bismarck

We've begun to long for the pitter-patter of little feet -- so we bought a dog. Well, it's cheaper, and you get more feet.

--Rita Rudner

A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down.

--Robert Benchley

The difference between friends and pets is that friends we allow into our company, pets we allow into our solitude.

--Robert Breault

Generally, or at least very often, people with a deep interest in animals are the best people around.

--Roger Caras

Being patted is what it is all about.

--Roger Caras

Dogs notice, they share, they draw conclusions, they like it when they're able to be of service and are touchingly grateful when they're praised.

--Roger Ebert

Does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors?

--Saint Basil

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.

--Samuel Butler

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

--Colette

Letting cats and dogs have litters is tantamount to shooting shelter animals in the head since it kills their chances of adoption. Please do the right thing and spay or neuter your animals.

--Steven Morrissey

You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him.

--W. Bruce Cameron

When you feel lousy, puppy therapy is indicated.

--Sara Paretsky

Ever consider what dogs must think of us? I mean here we come back from the grocery store with the most amazing haul--chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth.

--Anne Tyler

So many people pass up older dogs, which is a shame. With an older dog, you know what you are getting.

--Lisa Jakub

Now that I have a dog, I frequently have to take him out and get some exercise, which also gets me exercise.

--Alexandra Daddario

It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the size of the fight in the dog.

--Barry McGuigan

A person who has never owned a dog has missed a wonderful part of life.

--Bob Barker

I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it.

--Cesar Millan

Dogs don't rationalize. They don't hold anything against a person. They don't see the outside of a human but the inside of a human.

--Cesar Millan

You do not OWN a dog. You HAVE a dog. And the dog HAS YOU.

--Chelsea Handler

I think having a dog makes you more compassionate.

--Cheyenne Jackson

Dog is God spelled backward.

--Duane Chapman

Nobody else feels the same way about your dog that you do.

--Daniel Clowes

Sometimes you're sure dogs have some secret, superior intelligence, and other times you know they're only their simple, goofy selves.

--Deb Caletti

The old saw about old dogs and new tricks only applies to certain people.

--Daniel Pinkwater

Every dog might wish to be Dog One, but like us, most dogs want membership in the group even more than they want supremacy over others.

--Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Dogs do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have, and to obtain the objects they have not. There is nothing of value they have to bequeath except their love and their faith.

--Eugene O'Neill

Scratch a dog and you'll find a permanent job.

--Franklin P. Jones

Did you know that there are over three hundred words for love in canine?

--Gabrielle Zevin

Dog lovers are a good breed themselves.

--Gladys Taber

There ain't a man livin' who hasn't talked to his dog.

--Hank Williams

They dogs never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation.

--Jerome K. Jerome

Dogs like to obey. It gives them security.

--James Herriot
photo of man hugging tan dog

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