Carl Van Vechten Quotes

There are ... two kinds of people in this world, those who long to be understood and those who long to be misunderstood. It is the irony of life that neither is gratified.

The cat, it is well to remember, remains the friend of man because it pleases him to do so and not because he must.

Is a little experience too much to pay for learning to know oneself?

One meets the cat in nearly all forms of art...curiously enough she is not a conspicuous figure in Roman or Greek art.

The cat is the only animal without visible means of support who still manages to find a living in the city.

Cats have gnosis to a degree that is granted to few bishops.

The cat seldom interferes with other people's rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life.

A cat is never vulgar.

Cats seldom make mistakes, and they never make the same mistake twice.

A thing of beauty is a boy forever.

Note 4. For these and other reasons the cat is also very hard to photograph. The best photographs are instantaneous, as the mere breathing of a cat will blur the fur in a time exposure.

I've photographed everybody from Matisse to Isamu Noguchi.

Paris is not a city I should care to approach for the first time after I had passed forty.

Cleanliness in the cat world is usually a virtue put above godliness.

Catnip is vodka and whisky to most cats.