I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn
Quotes
Henry David Thoreau
The gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies..they are the trees, the plants and the seeds
Plato
People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practise. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest times
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel Laureate
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated
Mahatma Gandhi
Vegetarianism serves as the criterion by which we know that the pursuit of moral perfection on the part of humanity is genuine and sincere
Tolstoy
Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more
Franz Kafka
Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace
Albert Schweitzer
The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?
Jeremy Bentham
There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher animals in their mental faculties... The lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery
Charles Darwin
If a man's aspiration towards a righteous life are serious, his first act of abstinence is from animal food, because it is plainly immoral as it requires an act contrary to moral feeling, ie., killing - and is called forth only by greed
Tolstoy