Top 20 Animal Quotes
Humanity's relationship with nature is thorny, complex and often, unjust and unbalanced. Our obsession with animals has lead us to simultaneously love them, own them, covet them, study them, hunt them and eat them. We use them as transport, as entertainers, and as objects of fascination. For hundreds of years we have tried to understand and analyse this relationship. Here are our top 20 animal quotes that will change your perception of nature and all its inhabitants.
Top 20 Animal Quotes
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men." - Alice Walker 'Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.' - Mark Twain “Even as a junkie I stayed true [to vegetarianism] - 'I shall have heroin, but I shan't have a hamburger.' What a sexy little paradox.” - Russell Brand "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - George Orwell “To protest about bullfighting in Spain, the eating of dogs in South Korea, or the slaughter of baby seals in Canada while continuing to eat eggs from hens who have spent their lives crammed into cages, or veal from calves who have been deprived of their mothers, their proper diet, and the freedom to lie down with their legs extended, is like denouncing apartheid in South Africa while asking your neighbors not to sell their houses to blacks.” - Peter Singer “I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.” - Ellen DeGeneres “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” - Paul McCartney “To be a vegetarian is to disagree - to disagree with the course of things today... starvation, cruelty - we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it's a strong one.” - Isaac Bashevis Singer “Being vegan is easy. Are there social pressures that encourage you to continue to eat, wear, and use animal products? Of course there are. But in a patriarchal, racist, homophobic, and ableist society, there are social pressures to participate and engage in sexism, racism, homophobia, and ableism. At some point, you have to decide who you are and what matters morally to you. And once you decide that you regard victimizing vulnerable nonhumans is not morally acceptable, it is easy to go and stay vegan” - Gary L. Francione “I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and 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 only good cage is an empty cage." - Lawrence Anthony “Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife - birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes and dingoes - by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year, sends out cards praying for Peace on Earth.” - David Coats "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." - Desmond Tutu " The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" - Jeremy Bentham “The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.” - P.G. Wodehouse "When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." - Ingrid Newkirk "The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?" - David Attenborough "The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves." - Jane Goodall "When I look into the eyes of an animal, I do not see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul." - Anthony Douglas Williams “Though it might be nice to imagine there once was a time when man lived in harmony with nature, it’s not clear that he ever really did.” - Elizabeth Kolbert
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