And metaphors like cats behind your smile,
Each one wound up to purr,
each one a pride,
Each one a fine gold beast you've hid inside (...)

That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.

No one has ever been able to discover how they make this subtle sound, and what is more, no one ever will. It is a secret that has endured from the very beginning of the time of cats and will never be revealed.

I loved those cats at Atlantic. They were the only record guys who never told me what to do. Ahmet (Ertegun) let me do what I wanted to do and I loved him for that.

Look back, and smile on perils past.

To Ryuji the smile seemed as brittle as fine glass crystal and very dangerous