# Quote — Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats

> Cats do not give us too many chances. Abuse a cat's trust twice and you could be history, for cats are much less forgiving than dogs and will often lose their trust in you should you behave badly. A dog gives you infinite slack; not so a cat.

- Author: [Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson.md)
- Book: [The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-nine-emotional-lives-of-cats.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Moussaieff_Masson#The_Nine_Emotional_Lives_of_Cats_(2002)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-nine-emotional-lives-of-cats/cats-do-not

## More from this book

> Cats are contented with their lot, with or without our approval. They have less need of us than we would like. It would flatter us to think that cats cannot survive without us, that they need us emotionally as well as materially, whereas in fact they probably do not need us in either sphere. This wounds our vanity. We need cats to need us. It unnerves us that they do not. However, if they do not need us, they nonetheless seem to love us.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-nine-emotional-lives-of-cats/cats-are-contented.md)

> The idea, to a cat, that somebody else owns him is ludicrous.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-nine-emotional-lives-of-cats/the-idea-to-a-cat.md)

> The cat does not merely experience contentment, he exudes it. You cannot be in the presence of a contented cat and not have some of that contentment rub off on you. Which surely is a good part of the reason we love cats so.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-nine-emotional-lives-of-cats/the-cat-does.md)