A statement describing a dog as being a man's best friend was first recorded as being made by
Frederick II, King of Prussia (1740–1786). Frederick referred to
Biche, one of his
Italian Greyhounds, as his best friend. In his
Dictionnaire philosophique (1764),
Voltaire wrote: :CHIEN. — Il semble que la nature ait donné le chien à l'homme pour sa défense et pour son plaisir. C'est de tous les animaux le plus fidèle : c'est le meilleur ami que puisse avoir l'homme. Translated, this reads: :DOG. — It seems that nature has given the dog to man for his defense and for his pleasure. Of all the animals it is the most faithful: it is the best friend man can possibly have. The earliest citation in the US is traced to a poem by C.S. Winkle printed in
The New-York Literary Journal, Volume 4, 1821: :The faithful dog – why should I strive :To speak his merits, while they live :In every breast, and man's best friend :Does often at his heels attend. In 1870, in
Warrensburg, Missouri,
George Graham Vest represented a farmer suing for damages after his dog, Old Drum, had been shot and killed. During the trial, Vest stated that he would "win the case or apologize to every dog in Missouri." His
closing argument to the jury made no reference to any of the testimony offered during the trial, and instead offered a
eulogy of sorts. Vest's "Eulogy of the Dog" is one of the most enduring passages of
purple prose in American courtroom history (only a partial transcript has survived). In 1941,
Ogden Nash wrote "An Introduction to Dogs," beginning: :The dog is man's best friend. :He has a tail on one end. :Up in front he has teeth. :And four legs underneath. ==Argos and Odysseus==