|
Quote |
Author |
Source |
year, (BC),
birth, est. |
death (BC) |
notes |
| "Animals
see and hear and love and fear and suffer. They use their organs far
more faithfully than many human beings use theirs. They manifest
sympathy and tenderness toward their companions in suffering. Many
animals show an affection for those who have charge of them, far
superior to the affection shown by some of the human race. They form
attachments for man which are not broken without great suffering to
them." |
White, Ellen |
from "Minsitry of Healing" |
1827 |
1915 |
|
| A column
of ants began to follow me onto the tennis court. Because I would
not step on them, I lost the match. But I won with God. |
Burwash, Peter |
Canadian tennis star, wrote Vegetarian Primer |
1999 |
|
|
| All
creation has the same right to life. |
Bear, Sun and Jaya Bear |
|
|
|
|
| Animal
life, somber mystery. All nature protests against the barbarity of
man, who misapprehends, who humiliates, who tortures his inferior
brethren. |
Michelet, Jules |
French historian, populist revolutionary
|
1798 |
1874 |
Chair of History and Ethics at the Collège de
France |
| As for
flesh, true, indeed, is it that man is sustained on flesh. But how
many things, let me ask, does man do every day which are contrary
to, or beside, his nature? So great, and so general, is the
perversion of his mode of life, which has, as it were, eaten into
his flesh by a sort of deadly contagion, that he appears to have put
on another disposition. Hence, the whole care and concern of
philosophy and moral instruction ought to consist in leading men
back to the paths of Nature. Man lives very well upon flesh, you
say, but, if he thinks this food to be natural to him, why does he
not use it as it is, as furnished to him by Nature? But, in fact, he
shrinks in horror from seizing and rending living or even raw flesh
with his teeth, and lights a fire to change its natural and proper
condition |
Gassendi, Pierre |
French physicist, philosopher |
1592 |
1655 |
|
| At
Ramana's ashram, he established the rule that 1st would be fed the
animals, then the beggars, next the visitors, succeeded by the
ashram residents. Finally when all else had eaten, Ramana took food.
|
Maharshi, Ramana |
|
1879 |
1950 |
|
| Auschwitz
begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks:
they're only animals. |
Adorno, Theodor |
German Jewish philosopher |
1903 |
1969 |
forced into exile by the Nazis |
| Because
one species is more clever than another, does it give it the right
to imprison or torture the less clever species? Does one
exceptionally clever individual have a right to exploit the less
clever individuals of his own species? To say that he does is to say
with the Fascists that the strong have a right to abuse and exploit
the weak - might is right, and the strong and ruthless shall inherit
the earth. |
Ryder, Richard D. |
English scientist, author |
1940 |
|
|
|
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. |
Schopenhauer, Arthur |
German philosopher, from On the Basis of
Morality |
1788 |
1860 |
|
| Cruelty
to animals can become violence to humans. |
McGraw, Ali |
US actress |
1990 |
|
|
| Cruelty
to animals is one of the most significant vices of a low and ignoble
people. |
Humboldt, Alexander von |
German naturalist, diplomat |
1769 |
1859 |
|
| Cruelty
to dumb animals is one of the distinguishing vices of low and base
minds. Wherever it is found, it is a certain mark of ignorance and
meanness; a mark which all the external advantages of wealth,
splendour, and nobility, cannot obliterate. It is consistent neither
with learning nor true civility. |
Jones, Rev. William |
Anglican priest, theologian, musical composer,
contributor to the Oxford Movement |
1726 |
1800 |
|
| Do we, as
humans, having an ability to reason and to communicate abstract
ideas verbally and in writing, and to form ethical and moral
judgments using the accumulated knowledge of the ages, have the
right to take the lives of other sentient organisms, particularly
when we are not forced to do so by hunger or dietary need, but
rather do so for the somewhat frivolous reason that we like the
taste of meat? In essence, shouldn't we know better? |
Cheeke, Peter |
|
|
|
|
| Feminists
work to free women from domination, violence, and neglect but women
must also no longer dominate, violate and neglect female animals
robbing them of their eggs and milk, caging them. |
Salamone, Constantina |
founded network of 15,000 ecofeminists |
|
|
World Women for Animal Rights |
| From
beasts we scorn as soulless, In forest, field and den, The cry goes
up to witness The soullessness of men. |
Hartley, M. Frida |
|
|
|
|
| He that
will not be merciful to his beast is a beast himself. |
Fuller, Rev. Thomas |
Anglican priest, historian |
1608 |
1661 |
|
| He who
harms animals has not understood or renounced deeds of sin ... Those
whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not
desire to live at the expense of others. |
Sutra Acharanga |
|
|
|
|
| How can
you eat anything with eyes? |
Kellogg, Will |
|
|
|
|
| I decided
I needed to be consistent in my prolife stance so 13 years ago I
became a vegetarian. |
O'Steen, David |
director of Right to Life |
1995 |
|
|
| I eat
everything that nature voluntarily gives: fruits, vegetables,
and the products of plants. But I ask you to spare me what
animals are forced to surrender: meat, milk, and cheese. |
unknown |
|
|
|
|
| I gave up
meat when I was twelve. One day I was cutting up a chicken for my
mom, and I hit a tumor with the knife. There was [pus] and blood all
over the place. That was enough for me. |
Harnett, Josh |
|
|
|
|
| I have
been a vegetarian for 27 years and am a jogger. Recently I found
that sugar in America is processed using charcoaled bones of
animals... so for the last 3 months I have been off of sugar. |
Wilson, D. |
|
|
|
|
| I have
reached zero tolerance for the cruelty against our animal brothers.
If we are to nuture our culture, let’s begin with the animals who
have been nothing but our beasts of burden for so long. |
Rockett, Ricki |
musician |
2000 |
|
|
| I place
spiders out of the house. I don't like to kill them. |
Marshall, Bill |
|
|
|
|
| I spoke
often in Congress against the war in Vietnam.. and commented on
congresspersons hiding from the reality of war by saying 'many eat
the meat but few go to the slaughterhouse'. I said it so often I
became a vegetarian. |
Jacobs, Andrew |
former Repres. of Indianapolis |
|
|
|
| I think
if you want to eat more meat you should kill it yourself and eat it
raw so that you are not blinded by the hypocrisy of having it
processed for you. |
Clark, Margi |
English actress |
|
|
|
| I venture
to maintain that there are multitudes to whom the necessity of
discharging the duties of a butcher would be so inexpressibly
painful and revolting, that if they could obtain a flesh diet on no
other condition, they would relinquish it forever. |
Lecky, William E.H. |
Irish historian, D.Litt. from Oxford and
Cambridge, member of British parliament |
1838 |
1903 |
|
| I was
watching an HBO special on eating habits and different cultures, and
they showed in China how people eat cats, and I'm really fond of
cats, and I happened to be sitting on the couch with my cat, and
once I saw that, it just put everything in perspective. If I
wouldn't eat my cat what's the difference [between] eating a cat or
a cow? If certain animals are considered lesser than, so are certain
people and that's not really fair. And the root of that is to
consider life on equal terms across the board. |
Kenney, Ben |
|
|
|
|
| If an
animal does something we call it instinct; if we do the same thing
for the same reason we call it intelligence. |
Cuppie, Will |
|
|
|
|
| If animal
experimentation, animal dissection and any kind of animal
exploitation all ended tomorrow, I don’t make a f-----’ dime!" I am
for the animals, I couldn’t care less about your need to eat
animals, wear them, shoot them or exploit them. Too bad if you
consider it suffering to let all that self-centered and traditional
bullshit stop you from having the will to help the animals.. |
Rockett, Ricki |
musician |
2000 |
|
|
| In an
earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal
ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other
tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the
circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we
did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured,
shipped to America and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded
Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are
hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly
racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now
progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming,
of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal
hunting, kangaroo slaughter and the destruction of wilderness. We
must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics. |
Singer, Peter |
Australian professor, author "Animal Liberation" |
1946 |
|
|
| In point
of fact, I am the very opposite of an anthropomorphiser. I don't
hold animals superior or even equal to humans. The whole case for
behaving decently to animals rests on the fact that we are the
superior species. We are the species uniquely capable of
imagination, rationality and moral choice - and that is precisely
why we are under an obligation to recognize and respect the rights
of animals. |
Brophy, Brigid |
English novelist, essayist |
1929 |
1995 |
|
| In the
relations of humans with the animals, with the flowers, with all the
objects of creation, there is a whole great ethic scarcely seen as
yet. |
Hugo, Victor |
French novelist, author of Les Miserables |
1802 |
1885 |
|
| Let him
not destroy, or cause to be destroyed, any life at all, nor sanction
the acts of those who do so. Let him refrain from even hurting any
creature, both those that are strong and those that tremble in the
world. |
Sutta-Nipata |
|
|
|
|
| Let your
continual mercy, O Lord, kindle in your Church the never-failing
gift of love, that, following the example of your servant William
Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the poor, and maintain the
cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his
life for us, your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen |
Wilberforce, William |
co-founder of the RSPCA |
|
|
prayer |
| Life is
life--whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there
between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception
for man's own advantage… |
Aurobindo, Sri |
Indian poet and philosopher |
1872 |
1950 |
|
| Live
simply, that others may simply live |
unknown |
|
|
|
on T-shirt |
| Look deep
into the eyes of any animal, and then for a moment, trade places,
their life becomes as precious as yours and you become as vulnerable
as them. Now smile if you believe all animals deserve our respect
and our protection, for in a way, they are us, and we are them. |
Ochoa, Philip |
Board member, For All Animals |
2000 |
|
|
| May those
who oppose capital punishment for humans extend that protection to
animals as well . May those who oppose germ and other biological
warfare work to end the unconscious biological warfare unwittingly
waged on those who eat animal products. Those who are prolife would
logically become vegetarian. Those who are prochoice would not want
to impose their wills upon the body of a cow, sheep or pig. |
Burton, Craig |
US novelist, "A Hatful of Pain" |
1949 |
|
|
|
Non-violence and kindness to living beings is kindness to oneself.
For thereby one's own self is saved from various kinds of sins and
resultant sufferings and is able to secure his own welfare. |
Mahavira |
enlightened Hindu teacher, founder of Jainism |
(599) |
(527) |
|
| Now what
is it moves our very heart and sickens us so much as cruelty shown
to poor brutes? I suppose this: first, that they have done us no
harm; next, that they have no power whatever of resistance; it is
the cowardice and tyranny of which they are the victims which make
their sufferings so especially touching. … There is something so
dreadful, so Satanic, in tormenting those who have never harmed us,
and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power. |
Newman, Cardinal John Henry |
leader of the Anglican Oxford Movement, "Father of
Vatican II" |
1801 |
1890 |
Anglican priest who converted to Roman Catholicism |
| Oh, Ox,
how great are yours desserts! A being without deceit, harmless,
simple, willing for work! Ungrateful and unworthy of the fruits of
the earth, man kills his own farm helper with the axe, that
toil-worn neck that had so often renewed for him the face of the
hard earth; so many harvests given! |
Ovid |
Roman poet and scholar |
(43) |
17 |
|
| One does
not meet one's self until one catches the reflection from an eye
other than human. |
Eisley, Loren |
|
|
|
|
| One robin
caged and Heaven's mad! But when to just that one you add vast
flocks of battered battery birds and half starved calves in crated
herds and multitudes of tethered sows in narrow stalls - these
horrors rouse all Heaven to a rage so wild it's former rage seems a
wonderous mild. |
Allen, Patrick |
|
|
|
|
| Ostrasize
hunters and trappers from your social life. Don't patronize stores
and services owned by hunters and trappers. |
Dolan, Edward F. |
|
|
|
|
| Our diet
should be based on harmlessness. |
Jetha, Akbarali |
|
|
|
from "Reflections" |
| Recent
research has revealed that birds are capable of complex cognition .
. . it is now clear that birds have cognitive capacities equivalent
to those of mammals, even primates . . . it should be realized that
even vastly improved intensive systems are unlikely to meet the
cognitive demands of the hitherto underestimated chicken brain. . .
. With the increased knowledge of the behaviour and cognitive
abilities of the chicken has come the realization that the chicken
is not an inferior species to be treated merely as a food source. |
Rogers, Lesley, Ph.D. |
Professor of Physiology, University of New England |
|
|
in her book The Development of Brain and
Behavior in the Chicken |
| Some say
vegetarianism is an alternative diet.. but it is the original diet,
the plan designed by God. |
Marcus, James |
|
|
|
|
| Strange
lot this, to be dropped down in a world of barbarians - men who see
clearly enough through the barbarity of all ages except their own. |
Crosby, Ernest |
American poet |
1856 |
1907 |
|
| Strange,
that man should attribute cannibalism only to those, who eat the
flesh of their own kind. |
Jetha, Akbarali |
|
|
|
from "Reflections" |
| Take not
away the life you cannot give; For all things have an equal right to
live, Kill noxious creatures where 'tis sin to save; This only just
prerogative we have; But nourish life with vegetable food, And shun
the sacrilegious taste of blood. Forbear, O mortals, To spoil your
bodies with such impious food! There is corn for you, apples, whose
weight bears down The bending branches; there are grapes that swell
On the vines, and pleasant herbs, and greens Made mellow and soft
with cooking; there is milk And clover-honey. Earth is generous With
her provision, and her sustenance Is very kind; she offers, for your
tables, Food that requires no bloodshed and no slaughter. |
Ovid |
Roman poet and scholar |
(43) |
17 |
|
| Teaching
a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as
it is to the caterpillar. |
Millar, Bradley |
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
Beston, Henry |
American novelist, naturalist |
1888 |
1968 |
The Outermost House, 1928 |
| The
animals you eat are not those who devour others; you do not eat the
carnivorous beasts, you take them as your pattern. You only hunger
for the sweet and gentle creatures which harm no one, which follow
you, serve you, and are devoured by you as the reward of their
service. |
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques |
French philosopher |
1712 |
1778 |
"philosophical father" of the American and French
revolutions |
| The
assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our
treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively
outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal
compassion is the only guarantee of morality. |
Schopenhauer, Arthur |
German philosopher, from On the Basis of
Morality |
1788 |
1860 |
|
| The
assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our
treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively
outrageous example of Western cruelty and barbarity. Universal
compassion is the only guarantee of morality. |
Sehopenhauer, Arthur |
German philosopher |
1788 |
1860 |
|
| The basis
of all animal rights should be the Golden Rule: we should
treat them as we would wish them to treat us, were any other species
in our dominant position. |
Stevens, Christine |
Founder of Animal Welfare Institute, 1951 |
1918 |
2002 |
"Mother of the Animal Protection Movement" |
| The
creatures man uses and, so often abuses, are voiceless and helpless.
We are not. We have pens with which to write to politicians and
retailers, voices with which to speak out, shopping choices which
can have a major impact on the outcome of the debate, organisations
to join, even, on appropriate occasions, banners to carry. |
Llewellin, Rt Rev. Richard |
Bishop at Lambeth |
|
|
|
| The diet
can reveal much of a man's personality. |
Jetha, Akbarali |
|
|
|
from "Reflections" |
| The
emancipation of men from cruelty and injustice will bring with it in
due course the emancipation of animals also. The two reforms are
inseparably connected, and neither can be fully realized alone. |
Salt, Henry S. |
wrote Animals' Rights in 1892 |
1851 |
1939 |
vegetarian |
| The
indifference, callousness and contempt that so many people exhibit
toward animals is evil first because it results in great suffering
in animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great
impoverishment of the human spirit. |
Montague, Dr. Ashley |
Chair of Anthropology, Rutgers Univ. |
1905 |
1999 |
wrote The Elephant Man |
| The
inferior creatures groan under your cruelties. You hunt them for
your pleasure, and overwork them for your covetousness, and kill
them for your gluttony, and set them to fight one with another till
they die, and count it a sport and a pleasure to behold them worry
one another. |
Tryon, Thomas |
British author, pacifist, abolitionist, feminist |
1634 |
1703 |
|
| The last
thing my father told me before he was taken to his death... was to
love all creation. |
Hershaft, Alex |
concentration camp survivor |
|
|
|
| The life
spark in my eyes is in no way different than the life spark in the
eyes of any other sentient being. |
Stepaniak, Michael |
Vegan Sourcebook, 1998 |
1998 |
|
|
| The
person who is afraid to alter his living habits,and especially his
eating and drinking habits, because he is afraid that other persons
may regard him as queer, eccentric, or fanatic forgets that the
ownership of his body, the responsibility for its well-being,
belongs to him, not them. |
Brunton, Dr. Paul |
|
|
|
|
| The Torah
teaches a lesson in moral conduct, that man shall not eat meat
unless he has a special craving for it...and shall eat it only
occasionally and sparingly. |
Babylonian Talmud |
|
500 |
|
|
| The
welfare of animal citizens is as much our concern as is that of
other humans. Surely if we are all God’s creatures, if all animal
species are capable of feeling, if we are all evolutionary
relatives, if all animals are on the same biological continuum, then
also we should all be on the same moral continuum—and if it is wrong
to inflict suffering upon an innocent and unwilling human, then it
is wrong to so treat another species. |
Ryder, Richard D. |
English scientist, author |
1940- |
1940- |
|
| This is
the sum of duty: do naught to others which if done to thee, would
cause thee pain. |
Mahabharata |
|
|
|
|
| To argue
that we humans are capable of complex multifarious thought and
feeling, whereas the sheep's perception is probably limited by lowly
sheepish perceptions, is no more to the point than if I were to
slaughter and eat you on the grounds that I am a sophisticated
personality able to enjoy Mozart, formal logic and cannibalism,
whereas your imaginative world seems confined to True Romances and
tinned spaghetti. |
Brophy, Brigid |
English novelist, essayist |
1929 |
1995 |
|
| True
benevolence, or compassion, extends itself through the whole of
existence and sympathizes with the distress of every creature
capable of sensation. |
Addison, Joseph |
British poet, playwright, member of Parliament |
1672 |
1719 |
|
| True
human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore
only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its
fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of
its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in
this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle
so fundamental that all others stem from it. |
Kundera, Milan |
Czech author |
1929 |
|
|
| We cannot
treat any living thing callously, and we are responsible for what
happens to other beings, human or animal, even if we do not
personally come into contact with them. |
Peli, Rabbi Pinchas |
Prof. of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurian Univ., Israel |
1930 |
1989 |
|
| We know
from the truths of evolution and ecology that we are all related and
interdependent. Anthropomorphism (crediting animals with human
emotions and traits) is, however, outdated. Rather we know that we
are like animals. |
Fox, Michael W. |
head of US Humane Society |
2000 |
|
|
| We must
look deeply. When we buy something or consume something, we may be
participating in an act of killing. This precept [non-killing]
reflects our determination not to kill, either directly or
indirectly, and also to prevent others from killing. |
Hahn, The Venerable Thich Nhat |
Vietnamese Zen master |
1992 |
|
from Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of
Mindful Living |
| We
recognize, I hope, our special responsibilities to the aged and
infirm, towards the sick, the mentally subnormal and the physically
handicapped. We say that such sentient creatures that are less able
to care for themselves deserve our special care and support. The
same argument applies to children - and we as adults claim we
recognize special duties towards them. If this is so, then why do we
not recognize our special duties towards individuals from less
clever species? |
Ryder, Richard D. |
English scientist, author |
1940 |
|
|
| What
higher honour can God bestow upon us, than to create amongst us such
harmless creatures as ants. |
Jetha, Akbarali |
|
|
|
from "Reflections" |
| What I
build upon I shall be told is a folly that wise men are not guilty
of: I own it; but whilst it proceeds from a real passion inherent in
our nature, it is sufficient to demonstrate that we are born with a
repugnancy to the killing, and consequently the eating of animals;
for it is impossible that a natural appetite should ever prompt us
to act, or desire others to do, what we have an aversion to, be it
as foolish as it will. |
Graham, Rev. Sylvester |
Presbyterian minister, founder of the American
Vegetarian Society in 1847, inventor of the Graham Cracker |
1795 |
1851 |
|
| What is
the importance of human lives? Is it their continuing alive for so
many years like animals in a menagerie? The value of a man cannot be
judged by the number of diseases from which he escapes. The value of
a man is in his human qualities: in his character, in his
conscience, in the nobility and magnanimity, of his soul. Torturing
animals to prolong human life has separated science from the most
important thing that life has produced - the human conscience. |
Powys, John Cowper |
Engish novelist |
1872 |
1963 |
"Moral Evolution" |
| When I
was 17.. many years ago.. I was high on marijuana. My thought
processes were slowed down. I was eating chicken at the time and
suddenly realized I was gnawing on the leg of a chicken. I have not
eaten meat or fish or used marijuana since. I did not need them.
|
Wilson, D. |
|
1992 |
|
|
| Whenever
we cause suffering or death to any other being, we cause suffering
to the Great Life Force. |
Chich, Shik Po |
|
|
|
|
| Why is
compassion not part of the established curriculum, an inherent part
of our education? Compassion, awe, wonder, curiosity, humility -
these are the foundation of any real civilisation, no longer the
prerogatives, the preserves of any one church, but belonging to
everyone, every child in every home in every school. |
Menuhin, Yehudi |
American conductor, violinist |
1916 |
1999 |
|
| Why
should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above
him when he shows no mercy to what is under him? |
Troubetzkoy, Pierre |
Italian-American painter |
1864 |
1936 |
|
| Would you
kill your pet dog or cat to eat it? How about an animal you're
not emotionally attached to? Is the thought of slaughtering a
cow or chicken or pig with your own hands too much to handle?
Instead, would hiring a hit-man to do the job give you enough
distance from the emotional discomfort? What animal did you
put a contract out on for your supper last night? Did you at
least make sure that none went to waste and to take a moment to be
grateful for its sacrifice? |
unknown |
|
1993 |
|
|
