Garfield’s Most Famous Comic Strip Quote Still Resonates After 47 Years

After 48 years, there is still plenty of love out there for Garfield. Plushes with suction cup paws remain in stores, a new cartoon is currently in production, a Garfield video game is arriving this month, and the comic strip runs daily in newspapers across the world. Despite this affection, Garfield often lacks respect. Creator Jim Davis has been remarkably honest about intentionally designing the character to be mainstream and marketable.

Jim Davis told The Washington Post in 1982 that he wanted to come up with a good, marketable character rather than relying on divine inspiration. He has since shared similar remarks.

Because of this candor, many people online frame Davis as cynical and greedy while delegitimizing Garfield’s success. Setting out to make a marketable character is very different from possessing the artistic talent to achieve it. These opinions also overlook Jim Davis coming from humble origins and failing in comics for years before finding success. His previous creation was “Gnorm Gnat,” a strip about a cartoon bug that failed miserably. That failure motivated Davis to find a more appealing animal.

Garfield’s design became part of Americana, and his gluttonous, lazy personality remains funny and relatable. Arriving in 1978, the character foreshadowed the slacker culture of the 1990s. In an attempt to show Garfield and Jim Davis proper respect, I searched for the best-ever Garfield quote.

“I hate Mondays”

“I hate Mondays” stands as the obvious and likely correct choice. The feeling of hating Mondays is universal, and Jim Davis made that sentiment synonymous with his character. Everyone dislikes Mondays, but Garfield owns the concept. The accomplishment grows when recognizing that Garfield has no job and no reason to hate Mondays, as every day is identical for a cat.

That phrase appears on countless Garfield mugs and t-shirts, which might challenge the argument that Jim Davis excels as a writer rather than just a cynical marketing savant.

Great writing in Garfield

Finding the best quote brings a distinct challenge because many of Garfield’s best-written gags are purely visual, such as this shockingly dark comic.

Another strip offers a similarly dark visual punchline.

Both strips succeed through well-crafted visual jokes rather than dialogue alone, though someone still had to write them.

The best-ever Garfield quote

The punchline in this joke requires more thought than people usually associate with Garfield. A snappy punchline rarely feels profound, so I will go in the opposite direction and choose what might be Garfield’s longest quote. It is insightful and surprisingly sincere for a cat focused on eating. Published on March 18, 1979, the strip features Garfield sitting at a drawing board and writing a letter to the world.

“I think this world would be a nicer place in which to live: If countries could settle their differences without hurting anybody. If everyone smiled at even people they didn’t know. If nobody had to steal. If people laughed more. If everyone fed their cats all the lasagna they could eat. If we all took more pride in our homes and our neighborhoods. If we respected our senior citizens more. If there were no violence in movies and television. If everyone could read and write. If families talked more. If friends hugged more. If everyone stopped at least once a week to stroke a cat. After all, we’re all in this together.”

The quote is long, heartfelt, and earnest. I read it as a sincere plea for a kinder world coming from Jim Davis through Garfield. Mixing earnest sentiments with jokes like feeding cats all the lasagna they can eat makes it a truly great Garfield quote.

If that feels like too much, “I hate Mondays” remains a strong contender for Garfield’s greatest quote, as proven by its endless presence on coffee mugs and t-shirts.

Source: Polygon