From the beginning of time the polecats have quite honestly and naively regarded themsleves as representing in the animal kingdom what the rose represents in the vegetable kingdom. This is because they do not examine.

Man thinks he is not a fiend. It is because he has not examined the Westminster Catechism which he invented. He and the polecat -- But it is not fair to class them together, the polecat has not invented a Westminster Catechism.
- "Reflections on a Letter and a Book," Autobiography of Mark Twain (University of California Press, 2010)

While a polecat is undoubtedly a comely and graceful animal to look at, none but an angel can get any real joy out of its company.
- "The Chronicle of Young Satan"