"The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."
— Lily Tomlin

"If you made a better rat than a human, that's not much to boast about."
— J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)

""Where's Simon?" Clary interrupted.

Isabelle wobbled. "He's a rat," she said darkly.

"Did he do something to you?" Alec was full of brotherly concern. "Did he touch you? If he tried anything-"

"No, Alec," Isabelle said irritably. "Not like that. He's a rat."

"She's drunk," said Jace, beginning to turn away in disgust.

"I'm not," Isabelle said indignantly. "Well, maybe a little, but that's not the point. The point is, Simon drank one of those blue drinks- I told him not to, but he didn't listen- and he turned into a rat.""
— Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

"The scarcity of years does not necessitate lack of wisdom."
— James Clavell

"There's nothing ... absolutely nothing ... half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats."
— Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows)