The relationship between people and dogs is a story of unflinching devotion, unrequited love, and wordless understanding. Numerous people have been motivated by this special relationship to express the intense feelings that result from having a dog as a companion. Quotes that capture the core of the human-dog bond have been given to the world by everyone from renowned authors and thinkers to regular dog lovers. These sayings perfectly express the happiness, compassion, and enduring connection that dogs bring into our lives.
The range of feelings that dogs evoke—from their potential to heal wounds and fill emptiness to their aptitude to grasp emotions without using words—is explored in the collection of dog quotations that follows. These sayings highlight the unconditional love, unselfish dedication, and sincere delight that accompany living life with dogs. You'll learn as you read through these moving sentiments that a dog's presence in our life is about more than simply friendship; it's about a deep connection that speaks to the very essence of our humanity.
101 Quotes that Perfectly Describe Love of a Dog
1. "The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog." – M.K. Clinton, author of The Returns
2. "A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself." – Josh Billings, humorist and lecturer
3. "It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them." – John Grogan, author of Marley & Me
4. "No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you feel rich." – Louis Sabin, author of Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider
5. "My little dog—a heartbeat at my feet." – Edith Wharton, Pulitzer Prize winning author
6. "...people have been trying to understand dogs ever since the beginning of time. One never knows what they'll do. You can read every day where a dog saved the life of a drowning child, or lay down his life for his master. Some people call this loyalty. I don't. I may be wrong, but I call it love—the deepest kind of love." – Wilson Rawls, author of Where the Red Fern Grows
7. "Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them and filling an emptiness we didn't ever know we had." – Thom Jones, author of The Pugilist at Rest
8. "The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too." – Samuel Butler, author of Erewhon
9. "My idea of absolute happiness is to be in bed on a rainy day with my blankie, my cat, and my dog." – Anne Lamott, American novelist and political activist
10. "I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source." – Doris Day, actress
11. "There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." – Ben Williams, English philosopher
12. "Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished." – Dean Koontz, author of Whispers
13. "Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it watching for us to come home each day." – John Grogan, author of Marley & Me
14. "A dog is the only thing that can mend a crack in your broken heart." – Judy Desmond, producer of Eyes of Prey
15. "The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is, in fact, the most precious and valuable possession of mankind." – Theodorus Gaza, a Greek humanist and translator of Aristotle
16. "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, author of Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs
17. "I suppose there's a time in practically every young boy's life when he's affected by that wonderful disease of puppy love. I don't mean the kind a boy has for the pretty little girl that lives down the road. I mean the real kind, the kind that has four small feet and a wiggly tail, and sharp little teeth that can gnaw on a boy's finger; the kind a boy can romp and play with, even eat and sleep with." – Wilson Rawls, author of Where the Red Fern Grows
18. "No matter how you're feeling, a little dog gonna love you." – Waka Flocka Flame, New York-based rapper, a.k.a. Juaquin James Malphurs
19. "No animal I know of can consistently be more of a friend and companion than a dog." – Stanley Leinwall
20. "Happiness is a warm puppy." – Charles Schulz, cartoonist of Peanuts
21. "There's a saying. If you want someone to love you forever, buy a dog, feed it, and keep it around." – Dick Dale, American rock guitarist, a.k.a. Richard Anthony Monsour
22. "My main characters are the most sunny, happy, optimistic, loving creatures on the face of the Earth. I couldn't be happier that's where I start. I can put as many flawed people in the dog's world as I like, but the dog doesn't care. Dog doesn't judge; dog doesn't dislike. Dog loves. That's not so bad." – W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog's Purpose, A Dog's Journey, and A Dog's Way Home
23. "Actually, my dog I think is the only person who consistently loves me all the time." – H. G. Bissinger, Pulitzer Prize winning American author and journalist
24. "In the whole history of the world there is but one thing that money can not buy … to wit—the wag of a dog's tail." – Josh Billings, humorist and lecturer
25. "When you adopt a dog, you have a lot of very good days and one very bad day." – W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog's Purpose, A Dog's Journey, and A Dog's Way Home
26. "You know, a dog can snap you out of any kind of bad mood that you're in faster than you can think of." – Jill Abramson, American author and journalist, and former executive editor of The New York Times
27. "My favorite type of pet has always been a dog. They're loyal, kind, and offer endless affection. My friend Eric says, 'The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.' Funny thought." – Brendon Urie, lead vocalist of Panic! at the Disco
28. "I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive." – Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress
29. "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, author of A Dog's Purpose, A Dog's Journey, and A Dog's Way Home
30. "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." – Roger Caras, author of A Dog Is Listening: The Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us
31. "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, where doing nothing was not boring—it was peace." – Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being
32. "Why does watching a dog be a dog fill one with happiness?" – Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
33. "When the Man waked up he said, 'What is Wild Dog doing here?' And the Woman said, 'His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend because he will be our friend for always and always and always.'" – Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book
34. "There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog." – Konrad Lorenz, zoologist
35. "The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs." – Charles De Gaulle, President of the French Republic
36. "No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as much as the dog does." – Christopher Morley, American journalist, novelist, and poet
37. "A well-trained dog will make no attempt to share your lunch. He will just make you feel so guilty that you cannot enjoy it." – Helen Thomson, writer and consultant with New Scientist Magazine and Best Science Journalist in the British Journalism Awards
38. "I'm a lot less cranky when it's just me and my dog." – Bob Peterson, American animator, screenwriter, director, and voice actor for Pixar
39. "Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well." – Bonnie Wilcox, author of Successful Dog Breeding
40. "I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that dogs think humans are nuts." – John Steinbeck, author of The Grapes of Wrath
41. "When an 85-pound mammal licks your tears away and then tries to sit on your lap, it's hard to feel sad." – Kristan Higgins, author of In Your Dreams
42. "It's tough to stay married. My wife kisses the dog on the lips, yet she won't drink from my glass." – Rodney Dangerfield, American stand-up comic, actor, producer, screenwriter, musician, and author
43. "Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that is how dogs spend their lives." – Sue Murphy, American comedian
44. "Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!" – Anne Tyler, author of The Accidental Tourist
45. "A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down." – Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
46. "If you don't own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life." – Roger Caras, author of A Dog Is Listening: The Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us
47. "I once decided not to date a guy because he wasn't excited to meet my dog. I mean, this was like not wanting to meet my mother." – Bonnie Schacter, founder of the Single Pet Owner's Society Singles Group
48. "My fashion philosophy is, if you're not covered in dog hair, your life is empty." – Elayne Boosler, American comedian
49. "Dogs have boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach." – Moby, American singer/songwriter and animal activist
50. "There's just something about dogs that makes you feel good. You come home, they're thrilled to see you. They're good for the ego." – Janet Schnellman
51. "All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For, after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog." – Charles Schulz, cartoonist of Peanuts
52. "They [dogs] never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation." – Jerome K. Jerome, humorist
53. "The average dog is a nicer person than the average person." – Andy Rooney, American TV writer and contributor on 60 Minutes
54. "I just want to be in my sweats, walk my dog, watch TV, and eat pizza." – America Ferrera, actress
55. "I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross, and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful, and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk." – Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
56. "Did you know that there are over 300 words for love in canine?" – Gabriel Zevin, author of Margarretown
57. "There are three faithful friends: an old wife, an old dog, and ready money." – Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
58. "The best way to get a puppy is to beg for a baby brother—and they'll settle for a puppy every time." – Winston Pendleton, author of Pursuit of Happiness
59. "People have been asking me if I was going to have kids, and I had puppies instead." – Kate Jackson, actress and TV producer
60. "Dogs never bite me. Just humans." – Marilyn Monroe, actress from Too Good To Be True
61. "Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies." – Gene Hill, author of A Hunter's Fireside Book and Hill Country
62. "If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then give him only two of them." – Phil Pastoret, author of Our Boarding House
63. "If you eliminate smoking and gambling, you will be amazed to find that almost all an Englishman's pleasures can be, and mostly are, shared by his dog." – George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright
64. "Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses." – Elizabeth Taylor, actress
65. "Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods." – Christopher Hitchens, author of The Portable Atheist
66. "Dogs got personality. Personality goes a long way." – Quentin Tarantino, director and screenwriter
67. "To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs." – Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World
68. "A dog is a bond between strangers." – John Steinbeck, author of Travels with Charley: In Search of America
69. "Everyone thinks they have the best dog. And none of them are wrong." – W.R. Purche
70. "Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he's owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes." – Gene Hill, author of A Hunter's Fireside Book and Hill Country
71. "If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals." – Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist
72. "Intelligent dogs rarely want to please people whom they do not respect." – W.R. Koehler, author of The Koehler Method of Dog Training
73. "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 A. Caras, author of A Dog Is Listening: The Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us
74. "Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really." – Agnes Turnbull, author of The Wedding Bargain
75. "The greatest fear dogs know is the fear that you will not come back when you go out the door without them." – Stanley Coren, psychologist and author of The Intelligence of Dogs
76. "A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in your life, things won't be too bad." – Robert Wagner, actor from The Longest Day
77. "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, American journalist, author, and photographer
78. "Dogs die. But dogs live, too. Right up until they die, they live. They live brave, beautiful lives. They protect their families. And love us, and make our lives a little brighter, and they don't waste time being afraid of tomorrow." – Dan Gemeinhart, author of The Honest Truth
79. "Dogs are how people would be if the important stuff is all that mattered to us." – Ashly Lorenzana, author
80. "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment to animals." – Immanuel Kant, German philosopher
81. "The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog." – George Graham Vest, U.S. Senator from Missouri
82. "Everything I know I learned from dogs." – Nora Roberts, author of The Search
83. "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, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
84. "The love of a dog is a pure thing. He gives you a trust which is total. You must not betray it." – Michel Houellebecq, French author
85. "If you have a dog, you will most likely outlive it; to get a dog is to open yourself to profound joy and, prospectively, to equally profound sadness." – Marjorie Garber, author of Shakespeare After All
86. "Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen." – Orhan Pamuk, author of My Name is Red
87. "You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him." – W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog's Journey
88. "Everybody should have a shelter dog. It's good for the soul." – Paul Shaffer, Canadian musician, composer, actor, author, and comedian
89. "The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend." – Lord Byron, poet of Epitaph to a Dog
90. "All dogs go to heaven because dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind." – Melba Moore as Whippet Angel in All Dogs Go To Heaven
91. "Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer." – Dean Koontz, author of False Memory
92. "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." – Dean Koontz, author of False Memory
93. "Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell." – Emily Dickinson, poet of Hope is the Thing with Feathers
94. "Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate." – Sigmund Freud, psychoanalyst
95. "I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it." – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
96. "A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog when you are just as hungry as the dog." – Jack London, author of The Call of the Wild
97. "Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them." – Dodie Smith, author of The Hundred and One Dalmatians
98. "Dogs don't rationalize. They don't hold anything against a person. They don't see the outside of a human but the inside of a human." – Cesar Millan, dog trainer
99. "The dog is the perfect portrait subject. He doesn't pose. He isn't aware of the camera." – Patrick Demarchelier, French photographer
100. "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." – Mark Twain, author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
101. "There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog—waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there." – Lee Iacocca, former president and CEO of Chrysler
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