Straight from today’s Quotle — here’s who really said it, and the story behind it. Play again

Who really said it

Time spent with cats is never wasted

Not Sigmund Freud — an unsourced modern saying Origin unknown (a 21st-century saying) Falsely pinned on Freud (1856–1939) only around 2007
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

There is no such line anywhere in Freud’s letters or writings, and quote researchers trace the “cats” wording no earlier than the mid-1990s — when it was first pinned on the French novelist Colette, and only around 2007 on Freud. It most likely began as a folksy American variation of the older saying “Time spent with children is never wasted.” The irony: the one documented remark Freud made about cats is that he did not like them.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

Put it on a slide

Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Time spent with cats is never wasted” Origin unknown — an anonymous modern saying, wrongly attributed to Sigmund Freud (and to Colette). Freud never said it.

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

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Sigmund Freud — Austrian neurologist & founder of psychoanalysis. Theme: "Time spent with cats is never wasted". 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 "Time spent with cats is never wasted". 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

Claimed author
Sigmund Freud (no evidence)
Also credited to
Colette (from c. 1995) — also unsourced
Likely ancestor
“Time spent with children is never wasted”
First tied to Freud
c. 2007, originator unknown

“Time spent with cats is never wasted.”

No documented source in Freud’s works supports this. The nearest thing Freud actually wrote about cats came in a letter to his friend Arnold Zweig (10 February 1937): “Ich mag sie nicht. Sie hat die Natur einer Katze, die ich ja auch nicht mag” — “I don’t like her. She has the nature of a cat, which I also don’t like.”

The English “cats” aphorism appears to be a modern variation of the older saying “Time spent with children is never wasted,” documented in a 1989 book — not a translation of anything Freud or Colette wrote.

Zitatforschung: the Freud “cats” quote investigated

How we traced it

The exact wording has no identifiable author or first-publication — it is an anonymous modern saying misattributed to both Freud and Colette — so no copyright status can honestly be asserted. It is not a public-domain line from any documented Freud or Colette work.

Fact-check

A feel-good line pinned on the wrong (and unlikely) names

This is a textbook “magnet name” misquote: a warm, tweetable aphorism grafted onto famous people who never said it — and, in Freud’s case, someone who openly disliked cats.

Sigmund Freud No evidence

The line appears nowhere in Freud’s works or letters; researchers date its attribution to him only to around 2007. Freud actually told Arnold Zweig he did not like cats, and the Freud Museum lists this among quotes he never said.

Colette Unsourced

The novelist Colette (1873–1954) is widely credited with “Time spent with a cat is never wasted,” but the phrase only surfaced under her name around 1995, decades after her death, with no source in her French or English writing.

Albert Einstein Fabricated

As with countless feel-good lines, it is sometimes also flung at Einstein — another classic quote-magnet — with no basis whatsoever.

The likeliest real origin isn’t a great author at all: it reads as a modern spin on the older saying “Time spent with children is never wasted,” recorded in a 1989 book — swap “children” for “cats” and add a famous name.

Context

Why this one spreads

Cat lovers want a distinguished ancestor for their affection, and Freud — shorthand for deep insight into the human mind — is an irresistible signature. The joke, unknown to the people sharing it, is that Freud was a dog man who said cats had a “nature” he disliked.

The Colette version is gentler and more plausible — she genuinely wrote about her animals — but plausibility isn’t evidence: no one has found the line in her books, only in 1990s quote collections.

Freud didn’t say it — and, unlike most misquotes, he’s on record disagreeing with it.

Explore

Filed under

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

Happiness Simplicity

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.

Zitatforschung: “Zeit…mit Katzen” (Freud, angeblich)falschzitate.blogspot.com

The most thorough investigation: no source in Freud, Colette attribution from ~1995, Freud attribution from ~2007, likely ancestor a 1989 “children” saying.
10 Quotes Wrongly Attributed to Sigmund Freudfreud.org.uk

The Freud Museum London’s own list of lines Freud never said.
Cat Quote Incorrectly Attributed to Sigmund Freudeastsidecats.blogspot.com

Summarizes the Freud Museum finding and the Arnold Zweig letter in which Freud says he does not like cats.
Where did Freud say “time spent with cats…”?freudquotes.blogspot.com

A Freud-quote collector confirms no evidence for the line, citing the museum FAQ.
Colette version, also unsourced (quote aggregator)quotepark.com

Shows the parallel “a cat” wording circulated under Colette’s name, again with no primary citation.

The author

About Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

1856–1939 · Austrian neurologist & founder of psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) founded psychoanalysis and reshaped 20th-century ideas about the unconscious, dreams and desire. A famous animal lover in later life, he doted on his chow chow Jofi — but he was decidedly not a cat person: writing to his friend Arnold Zweig, he flatly called cats something he did not like. That makes the cheerful pro-cat aphorism pinned to his name doubly ironic.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

No primary source. Earliest documented as an anonymous modern saying; attached to Colette c. 1995 and to Sigmund Freud c. 2007. See “Die Zeit, die man mit Katzen verbringt…” Zitatforschung (falschzitate.blogspot.com), 30 May 2022.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Time spent with cats is never wasted’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/time-spent-with-cats-is-never-wasted

Copied