Quote by Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee

I urged that kings were dangerous. He said, then have cats. He was sure that a royal family of cats would answer every purpose. They would be as useful as any other royal family, they would know as much, they would have the same virtues and the same treacheries, the same disposition to get up shindies with other royal cats, they would be laughably vain and absurd and never know it, they would be wholly inexpensive, finally, they would have as sound a divine right as any other royal house...The worship of royalty being founded in unreason, these graceful and harmless cats would easily become as sacred as any other royalties, and indeed more so, because it would presently be noticed that they hanged nobody, beheaded nobody, imprisoned nobody, inflicted no cruelties or injustices of any sort, and so must be worthy of a deeper love and reverence than the customary human king, and would certainly get it.http://www.twainquotes.com

I urged that kings were dangerous. He said, then have cats.

Summary

In this quote, the narrator suggests that instead of having dangerous kings, one should have a royal family of cats. The narrator humorously argues that cats possess the same qualities as human royals, including knowledge, virtues, treacheries, and a desire for conflicts with other royal cats. Furthermore, the narrator proposes that a cat royal family would be laughably vain, oblivious to their absurdity, inexpensive, and have a divine right to rule. Due to their harmless nature, the narrator suggests that people would eventually worship these cats with more love and reverence than human kings, as they would not engage in acts of cruelty or injustice.

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By Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee

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