Phraselet No. 47

Is the cat Creation's supreme invention? I rather think so. Whether it be on of the bigger models, a Siberian tiger, say, or one of the elegant botique breeds like an Abyssinian, the feline range provides the perfect compliment to any life style. Some people detest all cats, I know, and come out in eczema when one approaches, but the most rabid felinophobe must surely admit that, as books furnish a room, so cats complete any mise-en-scène. ... Every cat, in my view, however pitifully it has been domesticated, declawed, inbred, emasculated or infantiled, remains in its heart of hearts the animal it always was. A Cat is a Cat is a Cat. The lambs may huddle, the humans may grumble, but the cat, with whatever persona he happened to inhabit, remains nobly impervious to the frivolities of time.

- Jan Morris, "Ibsen," The Wall Street Journal (February 9, 2007)