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

> Humans are great lovers of consistency, and it annoys us that cats have different rules. Even if a cat is willing to give up her life for you, that does not mean that she is willing to change her mind at your request.

- 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/humans-are-great

## 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)