[Ads-l] Quip: In Ancient Times Cats Were Worshipped As Gods; They Have Not Forgotten This (Probably not Terry Pratchett)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Update: Now, the earliest known match appeared in the 1905 book "The
Cat" by Violet Hunt which was part of a series called "Animal
Autobiographies". The work was written from the viewpoint of a cat.
The following passage used the pronouns "we" to refer to fellow cats
and "them" to refer to humans. Thanks to correspondent Armcie who told
me about this book:

Cite00 1905, The Cat, by Violet Hunt, Series: Animal Autobiographies,
Chapter 4: The Schoolroom, Quote Page 51, Adam & Charles Black,
London. (Google Books Full View)
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Cat/feIDAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22never%20forget%22

[Begin excerpt]
... going back to the days beyond the dawn of history, when cats were
worshipped. She said we must never forget that great fact, never allow
ourselves to lose sight of it, but let it regulate all our conduct and
our relations towards Them. They no longer worship us, though they are
kind to us. They have perhaps forgotten, but we need not.
[End excerpt]

Here is a link to the updated QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/08/11/cats-gods/

Garson

On Sun, Aug 11, 2024 at 6:36 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Update: Below are details for a 1992 citation in a book published by
> Hallmark Cards. The book is viewable via the archive.org database, and
> the front matter specifies a copyright date of 1992. (OCR does not
> work in this book in the Internet Archive because the text is
> irregular. OCR does work in the Google Books copy.)
>
> Strangely, WorldCat, Google Books, Amazon, ABE Books and the Internet
> Archive all have entries that specify the year 1990.  The book cover
> is the same. The ISBN 10 is the same. A new edition sometimes adds a
> copyright notice, but a new edition usually does not change the
> original copyright.
>
> For now, I am using the 1992 date. If the 1990 is accurate then this
> book contains the earliest instance of the quip. The book illustrator
> is Cathy Jellick, but the creators of the text are not listed.
>
> [ref] 1992 Copyright, Frisky Business: All About Being Owned by a Cat,
> Illustrated by Cathy Jellick, Topic: Behavior, Quote Page 41, A
> Shoebox Greetings Book: Published by Hallmark Cards Inc., U.S.A.
> (Verified with scans; Internet Archive) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Everything About Cat Behavior Explained:
> The ancient Egyptians worshiped cats as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Aug 11, 2024 at 4:04 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > The amusing remark in the subject line is often attributed to the
> > famous English fantasy author Terry Pratchett. I received a request to
> > explore its provenance.
> >
> > The Wikiquote webpage for Pratchett presents a 2004 anonymous
> > attribution and a 2007 attribution to Pratchett. He died in 2015.
> >
> > The phrasing is highly variable; hence, it is difficult to trace. I
> > have not yet found any substantive evidence that Terry Pratchett
> > crafted this quip. The attribution was anonymous in the earliest
> > matches. Here is an overview with dates and ascriptions showing the
> > evolution:
> >
> > 1991 Apr 22: The Egyptians worshipped cats, and the cats have never
> > forgotten (Anonymous)
> >
> > 1993 Dec 28: Thousands of years ago the Egyptians worshipped cats as
> > gods. Cats have never forgotten this (Anonymous)
> >
> > 1998 Apr 8: Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats
> > have never forgotten this (Anonymous)
> >
> > 1998 Apr 16: In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods. They have
> > never forgotten this. (Anonymous)
> >
> > 1998 May 12: Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods.
> > Cats have never forgotten this (Tentatively attributed to Terry
> > Pratchett)
> >
> > 2002 Mar 24: Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods.
> > Cats have never forgotten this (Another tentative attribution to Terry
> > Pratchett)
> >
> > 2004: In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not
> > forgotten this (Attributed to Terry Pratchett)
> >
> > Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article.
> > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/08/11/cats-gods/
> >
> > Feedback welcome,
> > Garson

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