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Who really said it

The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog

An anonymous French saying, in print by 1822 Unknown Anonymous · earliest located instance 1822, in French
Disputed Free to reuse

The saying is French, anonymous, and thirteen years older than Mark Twain. It appears unsigned in Tablettes Historiques et Littéraires in 1822: ‘plus je connais les hommes, mieux j’aime les chiens.’ The naturalist Alphonse Toussenel published a version in 1847, and in 1850 Count Alfred D’Orsay credited a sharper, political variant to the poet Alphonse de Lamartine. Twain, who was born in 1835 and died in 1910, was first credited with it in a 1911 Kansas newspaper — a year after his death.

Last verified 21 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog” Not Mark Twain. An anonymous French saying, in print by 1822: "plus je connais les hommes, mieux j'aime les chiens."

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Mark Twain. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Free to use, including in commercial and paid presentations — no permission or licence needed.

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In context

Evoking the world of Mark Twain — American author and humorist. Theme: "The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Document
Tablettes Historiques et Littéraires
Published
1822, in French — unsigned
Later credits
Toussenel, 1847; Lamartine via D’Orsay, 1850
Twain source
None — first credited 1911, a year after his death

Plus je connais les hommes, mieux j'aime les chiens. Anonymous, France, 1822

The 1822 wording, in French and unsigned. Read literally it is 'the more I know men, the better I love dogs' — a comparison of two kinds of acquaintance. The English version most people quote adds a possessive: my dog. That small change turns a general misanthropy into something warmer and much more shareable.

Quote Investigator — 1822 France to the 1911 Kansas Twain credit

How we traced it

  • The earliest located instance is 1822, in the French periodical Tablettes Historiques et Littéraires, and it carries no author’s name — it is already being printed as a saying rather than as somebody’s line the citation trail ↗.
  • It gathers famous names as it travels. Alphonse Toussenel puts a version in L’Esprit des Bêtes in 1847. In 1850 Count Alfred D’Orsay writes that Lamartine said a pointed variant about politicians: ‘Plus je vois des représentants du peuple, plus j’aime mes chiens’ — the more I see of the people’s representatives, the more I love my dogs. Lamartine stayed attached to it through French periodicals in the 1860s and 1870s. Thomas Carlyle has also been credited, in a 1923 grocery trade journal, with no support.
  • The Twain credit shows up in the La Cygne Weekly Record of Kansas in 1911. Searches of the sourced Twain collections turn up nothing, in English or in translation — and Twain could not have coined a saying that was in print thirteen years before he was born.
Public domain

Free to reproduce. The saying is anonymous and in print by 1822, and every named claimant — Toussenel, D’Orsay, Lamartine (d. 1869), Carlyle, Twain (d. 1910) — has been dead well over a century, so no version is under copyright anywhere. Translations are the only wrinkle: a recent scholarly translation of the French is its own copyrightable work, but the plain rendering used here is too short and too obvious to carry rights of its own. Quote it freely; just do not put Twain’s name under it. This is not legal advice.

Fact-check

The attribution problem

The arithmetic does the work here. The saying was in print in 1822; Twain was born in 1835. Everything after that is a question of which famous name it collected next.

Not Mark Twain predates his birth

The saying is in print in French thirteen years before he was born, and no version appears in any sourced Twain collection. The earliest Twain credit located is the La Cygne Weekly Record, Kansas, 1911 — one year after his death the trail ↗.

The strongest rival, but secondhand reported, and different

Count D’Orsay credited him in 1850, and the credit stuck through French periodicals for decades. Two catches: it comes to us through someone else’s letter, and Lamartine’s version is about politicians, not people in general — which is a joke with a target rather than a shrug at humanity.

Published a version, did not coin it 1847, too late

His L’Esprit des Bêtes carries the sentiment in 1847, twenty-five years after the anonymous printing. He is a transmitter, not an origin.

No evidence unsupported

A 1923 grocery trade journal claimed Carlyle coined it out of a hatred of humanity. Nothing supports it, and by 1923 the saying had already been circulating for a century.

An anonymous French saying, in print by 1822 — thirteen years before Mark Twain was born. He was first credited with it in 1911, the year after he died the source ↗.

Context

Why it resonates

It is misanthropy you are allowed to say out loud. Declaring that people disappoint you sounds bitter; routing it through a dog makes it affectionate, and the listener nods instead of worrying about you. That laundering is the whole trick, and it is why the line has survived two centuries and at least two languages.

It also holds up because the comparison is honest about what it values: not intelligence or conversation, but the absence of calculation. The dog is not better company, it is simply incapable of the specific let-down the speaker has in mind.

It was in print in 1822. Twain was born in 1835.

Two hundred years of borrowed credit

1822: printed anonymously in Tablettes Historiques et Littéraires — the earliest located instance.

1835: Mark Twain is born, thirteen years after the saying is already in print.

1847: Alphonse Toussenel publishes a version in L’Esprit des Bêtes.

1850: Count Alfred D’Orsay credits Lamartine with the politicians’ variant.

1860s–1870s: French periodicals keep the Lamartine credit alive.

1911: the La Cygne Weekly Record, Kansas, credits Mark Twain — a year after his death.

1923: a grocery trade journal credits Thomas Carlyle, with no support.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Friendship Character

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: The More I Know About People, the Better I Like Dogsquoteinvestigator.com

The full trail from the anonymous 1822 French printing through Toussenel, D’Orsay and Lamartine to the 1911 Kansas Twain credit.
'The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog' — Mark Twainmetabunk.org

An independent debunking thread that works through the same French sources, useful for seeing the reasoning laid out step by step.

Popularly credited author

Why it gets pinned on Twain

Mark Twain

1835–1910 · American author and humorist

Mark Twain genuinely did prefer dogs to people in print, which is why this one is so sticky. In Following the Equator (1897) he wrote, in Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar, that if you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you — and that this is the principal difference between a dog and a man. That is real, sourced, and public domain, and it is a better line than the one on this page. If you want Twain being rude about humanity on behalf of dogs, quote that instead; it has the advantage of being his.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Anonymous. Tablettes Historiques et Littéraires, 1822: ‘plus je connais les hommes, mieux j’aime les chiens.’ Later credited to Toussenel (1847) and to Lamartine via Count D’Orsay (1850). No Mark Twain source exists.

MLA (9th ed.)

“Plus je connais les hommes, mieux j’aime les chiens.” Tablettes Historiques et Littéraires, 1822. Anonymous.

APA (7th ed.)

Plus je connais les hommes, mieux j’aime les chiens. (1822). Tablettes Historiques et Littéraires [anonymous].

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog’?” Last verified 21 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-more-i-learn-about-people-the-more-i-like-my-dog

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