The more you stroke the cat's tail, the more he raises his back. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1184)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Excessive flattery or attention can provoke pride or hostility
Literally: stroking a cat's tail makes it arch its back
Examples
The more you stroke the cat's tail, the more he raises his back
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “The more you stroke the cat's tail, the more he raises his back. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1184)” mean?
Excessive flattery or attention can provoke pride or hostility Literally: stroking a cat's tail makes it arch its back
Is “The more you stroke the cat's tail, the more he raises his back. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1184)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.