Vegan Quotes: Historical and Contemporary

HISTORICAL QUOTES

"If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth - beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals - would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals?" ~GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, playwright and Nobel prize winner 1925

"You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity". ~RALPH WALDO EMERSON, philosopher

"Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own." ~ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, author

"To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime." ~ROMAIN ROLLAND, Nobel prize winner 1915

  

"Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men." ~LEONARDO da VINCI, painter, architect, scientist

"I do not regard flesh food as necessary for us. I hold flesh food to be unsuited to our species. To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body." ~MAHATMA GANDHI, spiritual leader

"But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun, and light, and that proportion of life and time they had been born into the world to enjoy." ~PLUTARCH, Greek biographer 100 C.E.

"I have no doubt that that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized." ~HENRY DAVID THOREAU, author

"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form."  ~WILLIAM RALPH INGE, Outspoken Essays, 1922

"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." ~SRI AUROBINDO, poet and philosopher

"As long as Man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." ~ PYTHAGORAS, Greek philosopher

CONTEMPORARY QUOTES

  

"Basically, the reason I'm vegan is because when I was about 16 or 17 years old, I began to understand that we don't need to contribute to the killing and exploitation of animals to feed our bodies correctly." ~DANIEL JOHNS, musician

“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." ~SUHAS GOPINATH, CEO of Global Inc.

“While most people would consider a vegan lifestyle too extreme, adopting a more thoughtful approach to what goes onto your plate can be a giant step toward a healthier diet.” ~SUZANNE HAVALA HOBBS, registered dietitian

"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters and all automobile accidents combined." ~NEAL BARNARD, M.D.

"The insult of marketing "Happy Cows" in California is no more than a deceptive lie. To be witness to the angry crying of the mothers, or the pathetically sad moans from the calve is to know and be haunted by an infinite sadness which all mammals share in similar circumstance." ~ROBERT COHEN, NOTmilk.com

  

“When people ask me why I don’t eat meat or any other animal products, I say, ‘Because they’re unhealthy, and they’re the product of a violent and inhumane industry’. Chickens, cows, and pigs in factory farms spend their whole lives in filthy, cramped conditions—only to die a prolonged and painful death. Their bodies are then turned into food products proven to contribute to heart disease and cancer. To eat that is to eat poison.” ~CASEY AFFLECK, actor

"For me, going vegan was an ethical and environmental decision. I'm doing the right thing by the animals." ~ALEXANDRA PAUL, actress

"I made the choice to be vegan because I will not eat (or wear, or use) anything that could have an emotional response to its death or captivity. I can well imagine what that must feel like for our non-human friends - the fear, the terror, the pain - and I will not cause such suffering to a fellow living being." ~ RAI AREN, author

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." ~ALICE WALKER, author

"The best part of being a vegan is the purity and peace of mind one experiences and the strong connection I feel to the animal kingdom." ~URI GELLER, paranormalist

"I believe that a vegan diet causes less suffering than a diet centered around animal products. Animals are sentient creatures with their own wills, and it seems wrong to force our will onto another creature just because we're able to." ~MOBY, singer

"If you think humans are meat-eaters then try eating the animal raw like every other meat-eater on the planet. If something is not palatable in its raw state then you probably shouldn't be eating it." ~DAVID WOLFE, author