Philosophers

He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals (Immanuel Kant).

The question is not, “Can they reason?” nor, “Can they talk?” but rather, “Can they suffer?” (Jeremy Bentham).

The reasons for legal intervention in favour of children apply not less strongly to the case of those unfortunate slaves and victims of the most brutal part of mankind – the lower animals (John Stuart Mill).

 

Scientists

The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man (Charles Darwin).

If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals (Albert Einstein).

Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty (Albert Einstein).

If only we can overcome cruelty, to human and animal, with love and compassion we shall stand at the threshold of a new era in human moral and spiritual evolution – and realize, at last, our most unique quality: humanity (Jane Goodall).

During my medical education at the University of Basle I found vivisection horrible, barbarous and above all unnecessary (C.G.Jung).

 

Spiritual leaders

May all that have life be delivered from suffering (Buddha).

When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble (Buddha).

Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventure, and for hides and furs is a phenomena which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging is such acts of brutality (The Dalai Lama).

Not to hurt our humble brethren (the animals) is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission–to be of service to them whenever they require it… If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men (Saint Francis of Assisi)

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, Jr).

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated (Mohandas K. Gandhi).

I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence (Mohandas Gandhi).

 

Statesmen

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).

Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages (Thomas Jefferson).

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being (Abraham Lincoln).

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected (Chief Seattle).

Authors

As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields (Leo Tolstoy).

What I think about vivisection is that if people admit that they have the right to take or endanger the life of living beings for the benefit of many, there will be no limit to their cruelty (Leo Tolstoy)

It may be suggested by some books that it is not a sin to kill an animal, but it is written in our own hearts – more clearly than in any book – that we should take pity on animals in the same way as we do on humans (Leo Tolstoy).

In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people (Ruth Harrison, author of Animal Machines).

 

Other

Killing an animal to make a coat is sin. It wasn’t meant to be, and we have no right to do it (Doris Day).

We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace (Albert Schweitzer).

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as well as that of his fellowman, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help (Albert Schweitzer).

Atrocities are not less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are called medical research (George Bernard Shaw).

It is not THIS bloodshed, or THAT bloodshed, that must cease; but ALL bloodshed – all wanton infliction of pain or death (Henry Salt).

The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men (Leonardo Da Vinci).

The medical argument for animal testing doesn’t stand up. Even if it did, I don’t think we should kill other species. We think we’re so much better; I’m not sure we are. I tell people, We’ve beaten into submission every animal on the face of the Earth, so we are the clear winners of whatever battle is going on between the species. Couldn’t we be generous? I really do think it’s time to get nice. No need to keep beating up on them. I think we’ve got to show that we’re kind (Paul McCartney).

I would look at a dog and when our eyes met, I realized that the dog and all creatures are my family. They’re like you and me (Ziggy Marley).

Source: Betterworld quotes