Thoughts About Animals and Their Rights III
More thoughts about animals and their rights...
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That's the essence of inhumanity." (The Devil's Disciple)
Emile Zola (1840-1902)
"The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men."
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910)
"If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals."
George S. Arundale (1878-1945)
"The world stands at a parting of the ways and those who suffer know this with deeply anxious hearts. One way leads to destruction. It is the way of the tolerance of cruelty, if not the active engagement in it. It is the way of hunting for sport, the way of vivisection, the way of killing for self-adornment, the way of killing animals for food, the way of making slaves of animals without thought for their happiness and well-being. This is the way the world has been treading."
"The other way leads to salvation. It is the way of harmlessness, the way of the recognition of brotherhood with all creatures, the way of tenderness and compassion, the way of service and not of selfishness." (The Night Bell)
Dr Louis J. Camuti (1893-1981)
"Love of animals is a universal impulse, a common ground on which all of us may meet. By loving and understanding animals, perhaps we humans shall come to understand each other." (All my Patients Are Under the Bed)
"Never believe that animals suffer less than humans. Pain is the same for them that it is for us. Even worse, because they cannot help themselves." (Park Avenue Vet)
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
"Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, do not harass them, do not deprive them of their happiness, do not work against God's intent. Man, do not pride yourself on your superiority to animals: they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you." (The Brothers Karamazov)
George R. Farnum (1885-1973)
"Tenderness and pity should never be taken as weakness. Men who have been great in the true sense have never been indifferent to the rights, nor blind to the needs, of the helpless."
"The education of the heart should ever go hand in hand with the cultivation of the mind. Kindness toward all sentient creatures and compassion for suffering in all its forms are the hallmarks of the enlightened community and the badge of the cultural individual." (Reverence for Life)
Mr Justice Cusack (1916-1978)
"To say that you behaved like animals is offensive to the animal creation because animals of the farmyard and field have an innate sense of decency." (At Leeds Assizes, U.K., 1971)
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)
"He that will not be merciful to his beast is a beast himself." (The Holy State)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
"We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature." (Silent Spring)
"As cruel a weapon as the cave man's club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life." (Ibid.)
J. Todd Ferrier (1855-1943)
"It ought to make all who profess evangelical Christianity ashamed that the finest and most compassionate souls have not been within their own borders, but rather amongst those whose deepest thoughts have aroused the suspicion of heresy. Evangelical Christianity, as people understand it, has absolutely failed to kindle the Divine Compassion, and to realize itself in a great fire of sacred devotion to all life."
Suhas Gopinath, 19, youngest CEO who heads a multinational company
"As humans, we need to have some morality and ethics to give back to those innocent creatures from which we have taken and exploited for our comforts and needs. We need to utilise our intelligence and resources in protecting innocent animals, instead of applying the same intelligence to destruct them."
Richard Gere
"As custodians of the planet it is our responsibility to deal with all species with kindness, love and compassion. That these animals suffer through human cruelty is beyond understanding. Please help to stop this madness."
Pamela Anderson
"My effort has been to narrate exposes of the leather trade in India and the meat industry in the US and even spearhead a petition drive against the annual seal hunt in Canada where baby seals are beaten bloody on ice for their fur. I have used my celeb status to fire off letters, pose for posters and motivated designers to create animal friendly fashions and even urged advertisers to stop using unwilling animal actors to sell products. And I will continue to work for the cause, whatever it takes."
Bryan Adams
"I'm strongly against fur and all other forms of animal exploitation. I'm against the slaughter of any living being whether it was seal, cow, dog or some other animal."
Pink
"I've always felt that animals are the purest spirits in the world. They don't fake or hide their feelings, and they are the most loyal creatures on Earth. And somehow we humans think we're smarter - what a joke. I wish every person was forced to know and learn and experience the horrors that these animals go through at the cost of our trends."
Dr. Janez Drnovsek, President of Slovenia
"Man has no compassion for humans, has no compassion for animals, has lost contact to the natural environment. He creates his own virtual world, where he does not live his own life, but the life of a consumer robot, thus drifting away ever further from his true self. Slowly and gradually he will stop being a feeling person that is connected with other beings and nature. And in the end, there will be no more real world. Somewhere along the line it will simply disappear."
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
"In 500 years (maybe less) people will look back on us and wonder about many things. No doubt behavior we consider normal today will inspire horror in our more enlightened successors. I am completely opposed to any form of animal exploitation, including animal experimentation, keeping animals in zoos or in circuses, (indeed any form of captivity for animals), the use of leather, fur, wool and silk. I also have begun to wonder whether any domesticated animal can lead an ideal life in the company of humans."
John Forsythe
"Man is not the lord of all the world's animals. He is the protector."
Arthur Schopenhauer
"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."
Alex Pacheco
"If only God had made the animals so they all cried out when they are suffering, it might be a different world. Something so simple could mean so much less agony."
John Robbins, Diet for a New America
"I have a dream. I see humankind understanding that the spirit which sings in our hearts sings as well in the hearts of the other animals."
H. W. Nevinson, Essays in Freedom and Rebellion
"Cruelty is the vice most natural to dullness of mind."
Victor Hugo
"No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
"Men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You remain responsible forever for what you have tamed."
Marc Bekoff, Animals Matter
"Remember, you hold the key to the future. You are the future. With knowledge comes growth and tolerance. Each and every one of us makes a difference. We must stroll with our animal kin, not walk away from them."
Marc Bekoff, Animals Matter
"Humans are a part of nature, not apart from nature."
Marc Bekoff, Animals Matter
"Our greatest discoveries come when our ethical relationship with other animals is respectful and not exploitive."
Dr. Janez Drnovsek, former President of Slovenia
"The meaning of life is in spreading peace and kindness."
Dr. Richard Twine, Institute for Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy; University of Lancaster
"The Protecting Animals in Democracy campaign is a vital effort to represent both the political status of nonhuman animals and the ethical and social relationships that many people feel towards animals in the UK."
Dr. Richard Ryder, historian and campaigner
"Britain may have led the world in interest in animal welfare, but British governments have led the world in resistance to change."
Henry Benston
"[Animals] are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time..."
Maria Griebl, VGT
"While Austria is introducing herself as a perfect host for football fans, because of imprisonment of animal rights activists, protests are being held in front of the embassies all around the world. With every day it is becoming clearer that this is a federal assault against the growing Animal rights movement, including the misuse of laws and massive violation of civil liberties."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
"Whether we live just a few years or a whole century, it would be truly regrettable and sad if we were to spend that time aggravating the problems that afflict other people, animals, and the environment. The most important thing is to be a good human being."
Dean Ray Koontz, Watchers
"If we've come so far that we can create as God creates, then we have to learn to act with the justice and mercy of God."
Dr. Louis J .Camuti
"Never believe that animals suffer less than humans. Pain is the same for them that it is for us. Even worse, because they cannot help themselves."
Thomas Taylor
"On which account the banquet of Pythagoras, is much more pleasant and desirable, than that of Socrates: for the latter of these affirmed, that hunger was the sauce of food; but Pythagoras asserted, that to injure no one, and to act justly, was the sweetest of all banquets." (A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes)
John Douglas, profiler of serial killers for the FBI, U.S.
"Arson and cruelty to animals are 2 of 3 childhood warning signs regarding the potential to be a serial killer. (To no longer objectify living beings by ceasing hunting and fishing takes one l step further away from the murder of humans.)"
Asoka, King of India
"I have enforced the law against killing certain animals and many others, but the greatest progress of righteousness among men comes from the exhortation in favour of non-injury to life and abstention from killing all living beings." (from Asoka's Edicts)
Dennis Kucinich, American politician and a representative of Ohio's 10th congressional district
"As a necessary component of the living world, we must extend compassion to one another and to every living thing."
Winston Churchill
"Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig. He just looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal."
Band Set Sails
"Nobody gives us the right to torture, slaughter or wear another living being."
Band I'm A Sloth
"Our attitude is very important to us, because you can reach many people through music. Our lyrics deal mostly with issues that annoy us and things we want to see changed. What makes us most angry is intolerance (and discrimination) against women , homosexuals and, indeed, animals who should be respected just as humans do."
Albino
"Living beings, that don't belong to the human species, are also sensitive individuals with specific needs. They experience pain and can suffer just like we do. This is a proven fact which our speciest society nevertheless consistently ignores. For me, the result of this ignorance represents an intolerable brutality against which I fight. Animals want to live, live for their own sake. They don't live for us, nor do we live for anyone else. Animals are not food, not a commodity, but individuals that I respect."
Slaven Bilic, coach of the Croatian national soccer team
"I love animals and highly respect those who advocate for the protection of their rights."
Jonathan Safran Foer
"What is suffering? I am not sure what it is, but I know that suffering is the name we give to the origing of all the sighs, screams, and groans - small and large, crude and multifaceted - that concern us. The word defines our gaze even more than what we are looking at." (Eating Animals, page 77)
Moby
"There are viable (and usually better) alternatives to the use of animals for food, sport, clothing, & experimentation. I beg you to discontinue any actions that might cause or condone animal torture, abuse, or destruction."
Margaret Mead
"The most dangerous thing that can happen to a child is for the child to torture or kill an animal and get away with it."
Mark Twain
"It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perception." (What is Man?)
Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)
Humans - who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals - have an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain... A sharp distinction between humans and "animals" is essential is we are to bend them to our will, wear them, eat them - without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret.
Martin Luther King
"Never, never be afraid to do what is right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way."
Anatole France
"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
Albert Schweitzer
"Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight."
IFEEL, Croatian hip-hop musician
"Abused animals are much like abused children. They hurt. They cry. They show their teeth when they are forced in a corner and pushed beyond their limits. They feel, they laugh, they love. Just because they cannot express themselves in a way that the world can easily understand it does not mean they are dumb, unemotional and undeserving of normal life."
James Cromwell
"To deny an animal its right to self-determination, its right to live out its life as it chooses in its natural habitat, that is an aggression; it's an aggression against the planet and all other sentient beings."
Moby
"Factory-farm lobbyists are so powerful and so well funded and they do everything in their power to hide the truth about farming. They keep the farms and slaughterhouses in places that most people never visit; they execute huge marketing campaigns in an effort to make animal production look like a happy, nice, benign institution."
Gustavo Petro, Bogota mayor
"The elite have to understand, and people in general, that we must not have fun when it comes to death."
Philip Wollen
"Animals are not just other species. They are other nations. And we murder them at our peril. The peace map is drawn on a menu. Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the presence of Justice. Justice must be blind to race, colour, religion or species. If she is not blind, she will be a weapon of terror."
A.D. Williams
"Mankind is the only animal that has the power to forgive, because we are the only animal that needs to forgive."
Boris Novkovic, Croatian singer
"We are all one and so close and near each other, without being aware of it. By mistreating others, destroying other species, beings and our different friends who we share this world with - and all for a whim which is absolutely replaceable - we are upsetting the natural balance, we hinder ourselves, and even worse, we hinder our children and their descendants."
Damir Hrsak, MEP candidate from Croatia
"Civilizational reach of a society can be seen from the perspective of how much society helps those who cannot help themselves. In this way, the rights of animals whom we share our living space with are extremely important."
Jill Robinson, the founder of Animals Asia Foundation
"For too long we have let the animals down through ignoring their individuality and mercilessly exploiting them. It is our duty, as people who care, to help turn the tide."
Emily Deschanel
"I don't believe that animals are ours to use or to harm. They feel pain. There are people who might not be as intelligent, but they feel pain. And I don't think we should feel OK or ethically sound hurting them, just as I don't think it's ethically sound to hurt an animal, when it's perfectly healthy and doable to survive on non-animal sources of food."
Richard Dawkins
"In 100 or 200 years time we may look back on the way we treated animals today as something like we today look back on the way our forefathers treated slaves."
George Elliot, 1819-80
"The business of ones life is to help in some small way to reduce the sum of ignorance, degradation and misery on the face of this beautiful earth."
Ian Somerhalder
"Animal cruelty is one of the most unfortunate and barbaric demonstrations of human beings manipulating ill conceived notions of 'power' over other species. There is a lot we can do to fight this. We need to support companies that we know do NOT test on animals, work with local shelters and rescues who aid many of our abused, neglected and abandoned creatures, refuse to support factory farms, fight for anti-cruelty laws on all levels of government, and even keep a watchful eye on our neighborhoods looking for reportable signs of animal cruelty. A lot of influence can be made too by setting a good example of what reverence for life should look like."
Milan Kundera, Czech novelist, playwright and poet
"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."
Shevek, a physicist from The Disposed
"You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be the Revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere." (in The Disposed by Ursula LeGuin)
Bob Torres
"If we are serious about justice, serious about equality, and serious about our commitment to looking after the least among us, we owe something to the animals who suffer voicelessly among us." (Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights)
Alexandra Paul, "Baywatch" actress
"I am now a vegan, but I have been a vegetarian since I was 14 years old. Even in my early twenties, I had it in my contract that I would not wear any makeup tested on animals. In one of the 'Baywatch' episodes, I asked the producers to write me out of a Sea World scene, as I abhor marine parks, zoos and circuses, and they did. I will always appreciate how very respectful the producers were of my beliefs."
Paul Farmer
"The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world."
Charles D. Niven, History of the Humane Movement
"Good as this democracy may perhaps be for the welfare of the human race, it is one of the very worst systems of government in so far as the protection of animals is concerned because so many people have little or no sympathy with animals."
Wayne Pacelle
"The life of an ant and the life of my child should be accorded equal respect."
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