A cat has nine lives

A cat has nine lives

Examples

In the name of God, why should the English take the trouble to inform a prostrate France that the cat had nine lives and that Benedictine was a sweet liqueur. (Tickell)

Martin nodded more soberly. "I agree," he said. "But Charles is not unlike a cat, you know, and he seems to have any number of lives. I have known him take risks before, and get away with them. He was probably travelling like the devil, for some whim of his own, just before he crashed this time, and, as Annette has just said, he's lucky to be alive." (Beaufort)

"It is a pig, sir; he's breathing." "Oh!" said Soames. "If a cat had nine how many lives had a pig?" "Where is he?" he said. "In the ditch, sir." (Galsworthy)

The countess whirled round with her usual vehemence of movement. "God in Heaven!" she cried. "It is the little man! Ah! But he has the nine lives of a cat!" (Christie)

Russian translation

У кошки девять жизней.
Все живое цепляется за жизнь.

Derivation

A cat with nine lives.
To have as many lives as a cat.
To have more lives than a cat.

Variation

A cat has nine lives and a woman has nine cat's lives.

Comparison

Живуч, как кошка.
На живом все заживает.
Живая кость обрастает мясом.