Animals know when to sniff and when to bristle.
From Lonely in a Crowd, one of 296 sayings written by John Sarris over thirty years.
From Alfred’s journal
A loose dog came up the sidewalk this morning, big brown thing, and the Pugliese's cat was sitting on the gatepost where she always sits. I braced for noise. Instead the dog stopped two feet off and put his nose out, and the cat let him have it, and after a second he went on. Then a boy on a bike came past from the other direction and she was all spine and teeth before he was even close. I used to think she was just moody, that it was weather in her and nothing more. Animals know when to sniff and when to bristle, and she had done both inside a minute without once looking confused about which was which. I have spent whole afternoons deciding whether to come down off a branch.
He reads what you tell him and writes a page of his journal back, with a few of these chosen for you. It costs nothing and asks for nothing.
Have it on something
More like it
- You can rob a person's dignity, but you can't spend it on yourself.
- Dogs possess a skill lacking in their masters, the ability to overlook human shortcomings.
- Dog is man's best friend, which says more for dog than man.
- Waiting for someone else to change gives you a reason not to.
- The world is full of love and lonely people.
- Practice temperance before you counsel it.