Garfield creator Jim Davis came up with the idea for a comic about a lasagna-loving cat in 1978 – and he made his first appearance 35 years ago today (June 19th) in 41 newspapers. The name came from Davis’s grandfather, James A Garfield Davis. Since then, Garfield has become the most-syndicated comic in the world, appearing in more than 2,500 publications. It has also spawned at least two television series and two feature-length films. Happy birthday!
Here are some of the cat’s best sayings:
• If you want to look thinner, hang around people fatter than you.
• I’m not over-weight, I’m under-tall.
• I shall now attempt to eat a diet lunch consisting of one leaf of lettuce lightly seasoned with … one quart of Mayonnaise.
• Show me a good mouser, and I’ll show you a cat with bad breath.
• All I do is eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. There must be more to a cat’s life than that. But I hope not.
• Anybody can exercise . . . but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline.
• Avoid fruits and nuts: after all, you are what you eat.
• Eat every meal as though it were your last.
