Quotes
On Animals
“Being kind to animals is not enough. Avoiding cruelty is not enough. Housing animals in more comfortable, larger cages is not enough. Whether we exploit animals to eat, to wear, to entertain us, or to learn, the truth of animal rights requires empty cages, not larger cages.”
- Tom Regan
“If we have to debate over whether or not it is morally ethical to murder, exploit and make to suffer another species in any sense of the word, we have already lost our morality by the very fact that we are willing to debate murder, exploitation and suffering as viable options of discussion to begin with.”
~Marla Stormwolf Patty
“I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold,
hungry and unhappy like we do. I feel very deeply about vegetarianism
and the animal kingdom. It was my dog Boycott who led me to question
the right of humans to eat other sentient beings”
~ Cesar Chavez, farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist
“I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.”
― Walt Whitman
I am sometimes asked ‘Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?’ I answer: ‘I am working at the roots.’
- George T.Angell
“On one hand we say we love animals, but what it really comes down to is that we love to use animals for our own purposes.”
– Lesli Bisgould
”At the moment our human world is based on the suffering and destruction of millions of non-humans. To perceive this and to do something to change it in personal and public ways is to undergo a change of perception akin to a religious conversion. Nothing can ever be seen in quite the same way again because once you have admitted the terror and pain of other species you will, unless you resist conversion, be always aware of the endless permutations of suffering that support our society.”
-Arthur Conan Doyle
“On one hand we say we love animals, but what it really comes down to is that we love to use animals for our own purposes.”
~ Lesli Bisgould
“Many times I’m told I should stop protecting animals and start protecting people. I’m deeply concerned about the poor/the children/the elderly/the sick and those persecuted because of race, color and creed. Their suffering is my suffering, but at least they can talk for their own defense; animals cannot!”
~ C. Richard Calore
“When you feel the suffering of every living thing in your own heart, that’s consciousness.”
~ Bhagavad Gita
“Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.”
~ Arthur Schopenhauer
“The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future.”
~ Marya Mannes
“Men are the devils of the earth, and the animals are the tormented souls.”
~ Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
“Those Without Wealth May One Day Prosper, But Those Without Kindness Are Utterly and Incurably Poor.”
~ Tiruvalluvar, Hindu poet, from Tirukural, a 2200 year old ethical piece
“The human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future – deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilization of communities and the spread of disease.”
~ The World Watch Institute
”Alone we can make progress for animals; together, we can end animal suffering.”
~ Scotlund Haisley, founder of Animal Rescue Corps.
“The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”
~ Henry Beston, naturalist and author
“Morally speaking, we should be concerned for our whole environment.”
~ The Dalai Lama
“Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives.”
~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“If you think there’s such a thing as humane slaughter, I’m curious- do you also think there’s such a thing as humane rape? Humane child molestation? Humane slavery? Humane holocaust?”
~ Gary Yourofsky, founder of ADAPTT
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: “Because the animals are like us.” Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: “Because the animals are not like us.” Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.”
~ Charles R. Magel
“The greatest thrill is not to kill- but to let live.”
~James Oliver Curwood, The Bear
“Life is life’s greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life’s scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature who owns it than the largest…”
~ Lloyd Biggle, Jr., 1923
“Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals “love” them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more.”
~ Edwin Way Teale
“Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.”
~ Bradley Miller, Humane Farming Association
“There cannot be perfect civilization until Man realizes that the rights of every living creature are as sacred as his own.”
~ David Starr Jordan
“Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
“I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
“You think dogs and cats will not be in heaven? I tell you- they will be there long before any of us!”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1894
“Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks- “They’re only animals.”
~ Theodore Adorno
“The question is not- Can they reason? Nor- Can they talk? But Can they suffer?”
~ Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals & Legislation, 1789
“We are the living graves of murdered beasts, slaughtered to satisfy our appetites… How can we hope in this world to attain the peace we say we are so anxious for?”
~ George Bernard Shaw, Living Graves, 1951
“… And he whispered to the horse, trust no man in whose eyes you do not see yourself as an equal.”
~ Unknown
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
~ Anatole France
“And so, with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings.”
~ Buddha
”At the moment our human world is based on the suffering and destruction of millions of non-humans. To perceive this and to do something to change it in personal and public ways is to undergo a change of perception akin to a religious conversion. Nothing can ever be seen in quite the same way again because once you have admitted the terror and pain of other species you will, unless you resist conversion, be always aware of the endless permutations of suffering that support our society.”
~ Arthur Conan Doyle
“Veganism gives us all the opportunity to say what we “stand for” in life- the ideal of healthy, humane living. Add decades to your life, with a clear conscience as a bonus.”
~ Donald Watson, Founder of The Vegan Society
“Even if a bodhisattva investigates the highest wisdom, one is not a proper bodhisattva unless one applies skillful means for the benefit of other sentient beings.”
~ Tsongkhapa, Founder of Dalai Lama’s School of Tibetan Buddhism
“One day, the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.”
~ Martin Luther King
“The standard diet of a meat-eater is blood, flesh, veins, muscles, tendons, cow secretions, hen periods and bee vomit. And once a year during a certain holiday in November, meat-eaters use the hollowed-out rectum of a dead bird as a pressure cooker for stuffing. And people think vegans are weird because we eat tofu?”
~ Gary Yourofsky
“Dairy and eggs are industries built on the exploitation of the female reproductive systems. I wish more people wishing for equality and fairness, when it comes to feminist issues, sould see the unity of oppression and advocate for all females, including the non-human ones.”
~ The Art of Herbivore
“As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.”
~ Leo Tolstoy
“Imagine sitting down to an eight ounce steak, and then, imagine the room filled wit 45 to 50 people with empty bowls…For the feed cost of your steak, each of their bowls could be filled with a cup pf cooked cereal grains.”
~ Francis Moore Lappe
Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals “love” them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more.
~ Edwin Way Teale
“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages”
~ Thomas Edison
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“However scrupulously the slaughterhouses concealed in a graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t…. The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.
~Mark Twain
“I abhor vivisection. It should at least be curbed. Better, it should be abolished. I know of no achievement through vivisection, no scientific discovery, that could not have been obtained without such barbarism and cruelty. The whole thing is evil.”
–Charles Mayo (founder of the Mayo Clinic)
“Most whites in the US, mid-19th century believed slavery would never be ended in this country because it a) was natural, b) was ordained by God and supported by ample Biblical precedent, c) had existed since the dawn of time, d) was necessary economically, and e) could be ended only by an unlikely improvement in our moral natures. One tires hearing these arguments from homophobes and meat eaters.”
~ Robert D. Shepherd
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
~ Lao-Tze
“I stood by your bed last night, I came to have a peep.
I could see that you were crying, You found it hard to sleep.
I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear,
“It’s me, I haven’t left you, I’m well, I’m fine, I’m here.”
I was close to you at breakfast, I watched you pour the tea,
You were thinking of the many times, your hands reached down to me.
I was with you at the shops today, Your arms were getting sore.
I longed to take your parcels, I wish I could do more.
I was with you at my grave today, You tend it with such care.
I want to re-assure you, that I’m not lying there.
I walked with you towards the house, as you fumbled for your key.
I gently put my paw on you, I smiled and said ” it’s me.”You looked so very tired, and sank into a chair.
I tried so hard to let you know, that I was standing there.
It’s possible for me, to be so near you everyday.
To say to you with certainty, “I never went away.”
You sat there very quietly, then smiled, I think you knew…
In the stillness of that evening, I was very close to you.
The day is over… I smile and watch you yawning
and say “good-night, God bless, I’ll see you in the morning.”
And when the time is right for you to cross the brief divide,
I’ll rush across to greet you and we’ll stand, side by side.
I have so many things to show you, there is so much for you to see.
Be patient, live your journey out…then come home to be with me.”
- Tijana V. Spasic
On Religion And Being
“As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side.”
- Gandhi
Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?”
Expediency asks the question, “Is it polite?”
Vanity asks the question, “Is it popular?”
But conscience asks the question, “Is it right?”
And, there comes a point when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor polite, nor popular, but one must take it because his conscience tells him that it is right.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Work for a cause, not applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt.”
–Unknown
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.” – Benjamin Franklin
“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
~ Carl Jung
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
~ Dr. Seuss
“What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.”
~ Christopher Hitchens
“With or without religion, good people will do good and evil people will do evil- but for good people to do evil, that takes religion.”
~ Steven Weinberg
“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.”
~ Ivan Panin
“You may call God love, You may call God goodness But the best name for God Is compassion.”
~ Meister Eckhart
“Those Without Wealth May One Day Prosper, But Those Without Kindness Are Utterly and Incurably Poor.”
~ Arthur Poletti
“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”
~ The Dalai Lama
”When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
~ Seneca, 1st Century philosopher
“If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.”
~ Meister Eckhart
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”
~ Albert Schweitzer
“They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.” — Garrison Keillor.
On Political Issues
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
~ Winston Churchill
“If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”
~ Woodrow Wilson
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.”
~ Albert Einstein
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence”
~ Frederick Douglass
“We shall be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expressions of opinions that we loathe.”
~ Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1919
“No society can make a perpetual constitution… The earth belongs always to the living generation.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
“Our capitol punishment system is haunted by the demon of error- error in determining guilt, error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die… The legislation couldn’t reform it. Lawmakers won’t repeal it. I won’t stand for it. I had to act… I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates.”
~ Governor George Ryan of Illinois, January, 2003
“The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by lesser men.”
~ Plato
