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The 30 Most Important Cats Of 2014

In a difficult year, these were the cats that inspired us; these were the cats that urged us on. These were the cats that changed our lives.

30. "Turn Down For What" Cats

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Whatever you turned down for in this trying year – whether it was grace, forgiveness, the tender caress of a loved one, or because there was nothing good on Netflix – these kittens were right there with you, bobbing their majestic heads in time with the rhythm of your dreams.

29. Secret Agent Cat

28. The Cat Who Figured Out How To Hammock

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So many critics have pointed out that 2014 was a precarious hammock of a year that it hardly bears repeating, but those happy few who survived the year's ravages by calling upon the fluffy white cat that is perseverence will see the wisdom in this beautiful video.

27. Butterfly-Befriending Cat

26. Broccoli Fan

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This viral advertising campaign by the powerful American Broccoli Commission used only SAG-certified cat actors, detectable by their stylish neckercheifs.

25. Kitten Who Is Afraid Of The Rug

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This sensationalistic hit piece by an anti-rug advocacy group featured another of the truly great feline performances of 2014.

24. Cat Who Tried To Get On The Bed

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Remember this: It is given to us to rest our tired heads not when it suits us but only when our work is ended in this world of toil. Thus it is that those who climb too early to their repose will be cast ignominiously back upon the ground.

23. Cat Meeting The Neigbors' Fake Raven For The First Time

22. Taylor Swift's Cat, Olivia Benson

21. Cat Who Befriended A Rabbit

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"You will not go far upon the road of life unless you befriend the rabbit that is self-understanding."

- Actual saying

20. Cat Who Is Genuinely Pleased To See Someone

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Love is the held gaze; the long, quiet vigil; the gentle pressure of a firm hand in an unfirm world; the frenzied "murp, murp, murp, murp, murp, murp, murp" of an eager cat running down the stairs.

19. Cat Who Thought She Was A Squirrel

18. Mr. Bugglesworth

17. Kitten In A Cherry Pie Bed Clutching A Teddy Bear

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At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the kitten is,
In a cherry pie bed, clutching a teddy bear.

- T.S. Eliot (paraphrased)

16. The Cat Who Tried To Apologize

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"Seeking forgiveness should never be a passive act: It is a physical manifestation of remorse, and as such it must be forceful (and, if necessary, violent)."

- This cat, not quite understanding remorse

15. Cat Who Wanted To Be A Star

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"Do you ever have the feeling that your life isn't really about you? That, like, maybe you are just the star in someone else's yoga video?"

- This cat, discovering one of the universe's hardest truths

14. Cat Who Turned Himself Turquoise, By Rolling In Paint

13. Cats Welcoming Soldiers Home After Their Long Tours Of Duty

12. Confused Cats Against Feminism

11. Cat Who Suddenly Realized She Was A Cat

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Heidegger tells us that we cannot be "Authentic" unless we embrace the vertiginous dread that comes from facing our true self, but he is unhelpfully silent on what we should do if we discover that this true self has whiskers and pointy ears.

10. Cat Who Is Thinking 'Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat' As He Walks

9. Cat Who Loved The Vacuum Cleaner

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"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

- Quote from the Cat Bible about cats and vacuum cleaners that this cat has taken literally

8. Slowly Backing-Away Cat

7. Garfi

6. Yaaass Cat

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“I was a Flower of the mountain yaaass when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yaaass and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yaaass and then he asked me would I yaaass to say yaaass my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yaaass and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yaaass and his heart was going like mad and yaaass I said yaaass I will Yaaass.”

- James Joyce, after watching this Vine

5. Cat Who Interrupts 'Let It Go'

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If only more of us had possessed both the fortitude and the creativity that this cat shows in preventing people from singing "Let It Go," 2014 would have been a vastly more tolerable year.

4. Cat Who Wants To Be Picked Up

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3. Whack-A-Mole Cat

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Futile as it may seem, we must keep whacking the moles in our lives or they will combine to overwhelm us. I mean this literally.

2. The Hero Cat Who Saved A Toddler

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While literally all of the other cats slept through the entire year on the sofa, this hero cat actually did something in 2014, and it was worth it.

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1. Setsu-Chan, the Beautiful Cat With the World's Ugliest Sleeping Face

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