Sometimes, though, the most poignant words are the fewest. We’ve gathered a collection of the best dog quotes about our four-legged friends, from funny to sad quotes, celebrating those who come into our hearts and take a piece of it with them when they leave.
Dog Love Quotes
I am I because my little dog knows me. — Gertrude Stein
The love of a dog is a pure thing. He gives you a trust which is total. You must not betray it. – Michel Houellebecq
Animals have come to mean so much in our lives. We live in a fragmented and disconnected culture. Politics are ugly, religion is struggling, technology is stressful, and the economy is unfortunate. What’s one thing that we have in our lives that we can depend on? A dog or a cat loving us unconditionally, every day, very faithfully. — Jon Katz
A dog is one of the few things in life that is as it seems. – Mark J. Asher
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. ~ Unknown
No one…appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as a dog does. — Christopher Morley
No man can be condemned for owning a dog. As long as he has a dog, he has a friend. — Will Rogers
Every dog must have his day. — Jonathan Swift
When the dog looks at you, the dog is not thinking what kind of a person you are. The dog is not judging you. — Eckhart Tolle
Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you’re never friendless ever, if you have a dog. ― Douglas Malloch
Not Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Astor together could have raised money enough to buy a quarter share in my little dog. ― Ernest Thompson Seton
A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in your life, things won’t be too bad. — Robert Wagner
The fidelity of a dog is a precious gift. — Konrad Lorenz
Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, when doing nothing was not boring–it was peace. — Milan Kundera
If a dog will not come to you having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience. — Woodrow Wilson
The biggest dog has been a pup. — Joaquin Miller
One reason a dog can be such a comfort when you’re feeling blue is that he doesn’t try to find out why. — Unknown
The dog is the perfect portrait subject. He doesn’t pose. He isn’t aware of the camera. — Patrick Demarchelier
Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe, we are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. — Roger Caras
Buy a pup and your money will buy love unflinching. — Rudyard Kipling
The dog was created specially for children. He is the god of frolic. — Henry Ward Beecher
No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich. — Louis Sabin
People love dogs. You can never go wrong adding a dog to the story. ― Jim Butcher, White Night
Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot little puppies. — Gene Hill
Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. — Ann Landers
If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater…suggest that he wear a tail. — Fran Lebowitz
You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him. ― W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog’s Journey
Who loves me loves my dog also. — St. Bernard de Clairvaux
If you would invest in friendship, purchase a dog. — Le Baron Cooke
Happiness is a warm puppy. — Charles M. Schulz
Money will buy you a pretty dog, but it won’t buy the wag of its tail. — Josh Billings
Dogs never bite me. Just humans. ~ Marilyn Monroe
You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him. ― W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog’s Journey
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man. ~ Mark Twain
No matter how you’re feeling, a little dog gunna love you. — Waka Flocka Flame
There is honor in being a dog. — Aristotle
You can tell by the kindness of a dog how a human should be. — Captain Beefheart
Some animals are cunning and evil-disposed, as the fox; others, as the dog, are fierce, friendly, and fawning. Some are gentle and easily tamed, as the elephant; some are susceptible of shame, and watchful, as the goose. Some are jealous and fond of ornament, as the peacock. — Aristotle
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. — Josh Billings
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
We might miss the sign or we may be unable to read the expression, but it is almost a contradiction in terms to say that a dog feels something but does not show it. What a dog feels, a dog shows, and, conversely, what a dog shows, a dog actually does feel. ― Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
I never met a man half so true as a dog. Treat a dog right, and he’ll treat you right. He’ll keep you company, be your friend, and never ask you no questions. Cats is different, but I never held that against ’em. — Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Questers of the truth, that’s who dogs are; seekers after the invisible scent of another being’s authentic core. ― Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
The dog lives for the day, the hour, even the moment. — Robert Falcon Scott
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
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 DePree
Funny Dog Quotes
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. ~ Groucho Marx
Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of them all. ― John Grogan, Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog
It’s tough to stay married. My wife kisses the dog on the lips, yet she won’t drink from my glass. ~ Rodney Dangerfield
My fashion philosophy is, if you’re not covered in dog hair, your life is empty. — Elayne Boosler
My dog is half pit-bull, half poodle. Not much of a watchdog, but a vicious gossip! ~ Craig Shoemaker
If you make a fool of yourself in front a dog, he will make a fool of himself, too. ~ Chuck Jones
What do dogs do on their day off? Can’t lie around – that’s their job! — George Carlin
It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie
A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. — Robert Benchley
You can say any fool thing to a dog and the dog will just give you this look that says, ‘My GOSH, you’re RIGHT! I NEVER would’ve thought of that! — Dave Barry
You can always trust a dog that likes peanut butter.― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie
Just give me a comfortable couch, a dog, a good book, and a woman. Then if you can get the dog to go somewhere and read the book, I might have a little fun. — Groucho Marx
The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. — Andy Rooney
Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear. — Dave Barry
Death and Grief
Along with the joy that dogs bring to our lives comes the realization that our companions have a tragically short lifespan. This collection of sad dog quotes offers perspectives on the bittersweet side of the relationship.
Dogs, lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you’re going to lose a dog, and there’s going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can’t support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There’s such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price. Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and the mistakes we make because of those illusions. — Dean Koontz, The Darkest Evening of the Year
When we adopt a dog or any pet, we know it is going to end with us having to say goodbye, but we still do it. And we do it for a very good reason: They bring so much joy and optimism and happiness. They attack every moment of every day with that attitude. — W. Bruce Cameron
In his grief over the loss of a dog, a little boy stands for the first time on tiptoe, peering into the rueful morrow of manhood. After this most inconsolable of sorrows there is nothing life can do to him that he will not be able somehow to bear. ― James Thurber
I once heard a woman who had lost her dog say that she felt as though a color were suddenly missing from her world: the dog had introduced to her field of vision some previously unavailable hue and without a dog, that color was gone. That seemed to capture the experience of loving a dog with eminent simplicity. I’d amend it only slightly and say that if we are open to what they have to give, dogs can introduce us to several colors with names like wildness, nurturance, trust and joy. — Carolyn Knapp
When you have dogs, you witness their uncomplaining acceptance of suffering, their bright desire to make the most of life in spite of the limitations of age and disease, their calm awareness of the approaching end when their final hours come. They accept death with a grace that I hope I will one day be brave enough to muster. — Dean Koontz, A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog
The dog always dies. Go to the library and pick out a book with an award sticker and a dog on the cover. Trust me, that dog is going down. — Gordon Korman, No More Dead Dogs
Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull
. . . owning a dog always ended with this sadness because dogs just don’t live as long as people do. — John Grogan, Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog
Inspirational and Religious
The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s. — Mark Twain
If dogs are not there, it is not heaven. — Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more. — Agatha Christie
You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us. — Robert Louis Stevenson
God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there. — Billy Graham
Dogs are gonna take over the world. It’s a known fact for those who believe it, kinda like the Bible. ― Mike Dirnt
DOG: A kind of additional or subsidiary Diety designed to catch the overflow or surplus of the world’s worship. ― Ambrose Bierce
The dog is the most faithful of animals and would be much esteemed were it not so common. Our Lord God has made His greatest gifts the commonest. ― Martin Luther
I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it. — Abraham Lincoln
Do dogs understand death? Do they have souls? Do they go to heaven? I have always believed so, but this [event] confirmed that all of God’s creatures, humans and animals, have a soul and that we will all be reunited in heaven. My pastor once told me, “If there are no dogs in heaven, I don’t want to go.” I agree. — Glenwood McNabb
DOG: A kind of additional or subsidiary Diety designed to catch the overflow or surplus of the world’s worship. ~ Ambrose Bierce
There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog. — Konrad Lorenz
Dogs are miracles with paws. — attributed to Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy
If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. — James Thurber
The dog is the most faithful of animals and would be much esteemed were it not so common. Our Lord God has made His greatest gifts the commonest. — Martin Luther
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. — Will Rogers
Dog is God spelled backward. — Duane Chapman
You think those dogs will not be in heaven! I tell you they will be there long before any of us. — Robert Louis Stevenson
Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made (man) is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one… that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. — Mark Twain
Politicians and Dogs
You want a friend in this city? Get a dog! — Harry S. Truman
A lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. — Barack Obama
I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. — Winston Churchill
The more I see of the representatives of the people, the more I admire my dogs. — Alphonse de Lamartine
Politics are not my concern… they impressed me as a dog’s life without a dog’s decencies. — Rudyard Kipling
If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience. — Woodrow Wilson
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs. — Charles de Gaulle
I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being. – attributed to Abraham Lincoln
Dog Travel
A dog creates, transcribes, a new landscape for you… ~ Rick Bass, Colter: The True Story of the Best Dog I Ever Had
To a dog, motoring isn’t just a way of getting from here to there, it’s also a thrill and an adventure. The mere jingle of car keys is enough to send most any dog into a whimpering, tail-wagging frenzy. ~ Jon Winokur
Dogs love to go for rides. A dog will happily get into any vehicle going anywhere. ~ Dave Barry
A dog…is a bond between strangers. ― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes. ~ Lewis Grizzard
Looking for some more dog sayings?
Whether you’re looking for inspirational dog quotes for a shelter newsletter or short dog captions for Instagram photos, here are two of our favorite places to search:
- GoodReads (where you’ll also find some great dog book recommendations)
- Brainy Quote
- And if you’re looking for some feline wisdom, don’t miss our CatTipper page on famous cat quotes!
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