--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Whatever class and race divergences…" description: "\"Whatever class and race divergences exist, top cats are tom cats.\" — Elizabeth Janeway" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/elizabeth-janeway-12505_cat_whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exis_1239572.jpg" --- # Whatever class and race divergences exist, top cats are… ![“Whatever class and race divergences exist, top cats are tom cats.” quote by Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/elizabeth-janeway-12505_cat_whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exis_1239572.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/elizabeth-janeway-12505_cat_whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exis_1239572.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/elizabeth-janeway-12505_cat_whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exis_1239572.jpg) > “Whatever class and race divergences exist, top cats are tom cats.” [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. All social divisions matter, but ultimately, cats are cats; hierarchy is superficial. **In simple terms:** Social differences exist, but fundamentally we’re alike. Key Takeaway Recognize common humanity beyond labels. Themes equality hierarchy identity Mood analytical thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - workplace - education - community building - policy making Key Concepts sociology humanism Questions to Reflect On - How do you see commonality in diversity? - What hierarchies are truly meaningful? A Different Perspective Ignoring systemic inequities can perpetuate injustice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cat/) [Cats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cats/) [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Divergence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/divergence/) [Diversity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diversity/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) [Social justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-justice/) ## Related quotes > [“You are ass and I like class. I like diamonds, you are a glass. You brown mouse, I like black cats. 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It has changed the way that we perceive the world out there, and though we know that - have indeed been bombarded with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/television-it-has-changed-the-way-that-we-perceive-the-world-out/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [those who despair of life are not long for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/those-who-despair-of-life-are-not-long-for-it/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/like-their-personal-lives-women-s-history-is-fragmented-interrupted-a/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Mythology is like gravity, inconvenient at times, but necessary for cohesion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/mythology-is-like-gravity-inconvenient-at-times-but-necessary-for/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Creeds and causal systems have argued with each other for millennia, and even so we and our ancestors have managed to live in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/creeds-and-causal-systems-have-argued-with-each-other-for-millennia/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Power is the ability not to have to please.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/power-is-the-ability-not-to-have-to-please/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Love between women is seen as a paradigm of love between equals, and that is perhaps its greatest attraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/love-between-women-is-seen-as-a-paradigm-of-love-between-equals-and/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Unless I am what I am and feel what I feel - as hard as I can and as honestly and truly as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/unless-i-am-what-i-am-and-feel-what-i-feel-as-hard-as-i-can-and-as/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [We don't get offered crises, they arrive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/we-don-t-get-offered-crises-they-arrive/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [We older women who know we aren't heroines can offer our younger sisters, at the very least, an honest report of what we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/we-older-women-who-know-we-aren-t-heroines-can-offer-our-younger/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Individual advances turn into social change when enough of them occur.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/individual-advances-turn-into-social-change-when-enough-of-them-occur/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Poets are the leaven in the lump of civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/poets-are-the-leaven-in-the-lump-of-civilization/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Man's world' and 'woman's place' have confronted each other since Scylla first faced Charybdis. ... if women have only a place, clearly the rest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/man-s-world-and-woman-s-place-have-confronted-each-other-since-scylla/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Art is a framework, a kind of living trellis, on which public dreaming can shape itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/art-is-a-framework-a-kind-of-living-trellis-on-which-public-dreaming/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) [Explore all 54 Elizabeth Janeway quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) ## More Cat quotes > [That's the great secret of creativity. 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I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) > [One reason why my memory decays is that I have three cats, all so loving and insistent that they play cat's-cradle with every train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/one-reason-why-my-memory-decays-is-that-i-have-three-cats-all-so/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [It's an interesting fact that fewer than 17 % of Real cats end their lives with the same name they started with. Much family…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/it-s-an-interesting-fact-that-fewer-than-17-of-real-cats-end-their/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [The dog is guided by kindly instinct to the man or woman whose heart is open to his advances. The cat often leaves the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-repplier/the-dog-is-guided-by-kindly-instinct-to-the-man-or-woman-whose-heart/) [Agnes Repplier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-repplier/) > [If you ask me to tell you anything about the nature of what lies beyond the phaneron… my answer is “How should I know?”……](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-gardner/if-you-ask-me-to-tell-you-anything-about-the-nature-of-what-lies/) [Martin Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-gardner/) > [Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou ow'st the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/is-man-no-more-than-this-consider-him-well-thou-ow-st-the-worm-no/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [One cat just leads to another. The place is so damned big it doesn't really seem as though there were many cats until you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/one-cat-just-leads-to-another-the-place-is-so-damned-big-it-doesn-t/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [In the olden days in England, you could be hung for stealing a sheep or a loaf of bread. However, if a sheep stole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-harding/in-the-olden-days-in-england-you-could-be-hung-for-stealing-a-sheep/) [Mike Harding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-harding/) > [Kittens can happen to anyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gallico/kittens-can-happen-to-anyone/) [Paul Gallico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gallico/) > [I think if you keep the box closed long enough you do kill the cat, actually.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-think-if-you-keep-the-box-closed-long-enough-you-do-kill-the-cat/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“All right, you deadly little ghostlings,” I muttered. “Mama says go back to bed! - Cat”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeaniene-frost/all-right-you-deadly-little-ghostlings-i-muttered-mama-says-go-back/) [Jeaniene Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeaniene-frost/) > [Man wishes woman to be peaceable, but in fact she is essentially warlike, like the cat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/man-wishes-woman-to-be-peaceable-but-in-fact-she-is-essentially/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [There are videos I used to take at home, pretending to be a newscaster, interviewing the teapot or my house cat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-wagner/there-are-videos-i-used-to-take-at-home-pretending-to-be-a-newscaster/) [Alex Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-wagner/) [Browse all 2,996 Cat quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cat/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Whatever class and race divergences exist, top cats are tom cats.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Janeway" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exist-top-cats-are-tom-cats/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cat" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exist-top-cats-are-tom-cats/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/elizabeth-janeway-12505_cat_whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exis_1239572.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/elizabeth-janeway-12505_cat_whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exis_1239572.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/elizabeth-janeway-12505_cat_whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exis_1239572.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whatever class and race divergences exist, top cats are tom cats.” — Elizabeth Janeway", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elizabeth Janeway", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Whatever class and race divergences exist,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exist-top-cats-are-tom-cats/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/whatever-class-and-race-divergences-exist-top-cats-are-tom-cats/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```