When I play with my cat, who can say that it is not she amusing herself with me more than I with her?
[Quand je me jouë à ma chatte, qui sçait, si elle passe son temps de moy plus que je ne fay d’elle?]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
“Apology for Raymond Sebond [Apologie de Raimond de Sebonde]” (1588–1592), Essays, Book 2, ch. 12 (1595) [tr. Ives (1925)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:When I am playing with my Cat, who knowes whether she have more sporte in dallying with me, then I have in gaming with hir?
[tr. Florio (1603)]When I play with my cat, who knows whether puss is not more diverted with me than I am with puss?
[tr. Cotton (1686)]When I play with my cat who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me.
[tr. Frame (1943)]When I play with my cat, how do I know that she is not passing time with me rather than I with her?
[tr. Screech (1987)]