Animal Quotes

A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal.

Proverbs 12:10

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

Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to a man.
Just as one wants happiness and fears pain,
just as one wants to live and not to die,
so do other creatures.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama
The Vegetarian Way, 1967. 

Until one has loved an animal,
a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Anatole France

Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them,
but to stop there is not enough.
We have a higher mission—
to be of service to them wherever they require it.

Francis of Assisi

Non-injury to living beings is the highest religion.

Jainism

Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul.

Pythagoras

Animals are such agreeable friends -
they ask no questions,
they pass no criticisms.

George Eliot

Animals have done us no harm
and they have no power of resistance.…
There is something so very dreadful…
in tormenting those who have never harmed us,
who cannot defend themselves,
who are utterly in our power.

Cardinal John Henry Newman

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.

Martin Buber

All animals except man
know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.
 
Samuel Butler

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Mohandas Gandhi

Lots of people talk to animals....
Not very many listen, though....
That's the problem.

Benjamin Hoff
The Tao of Pooh

I don't believe in the concept of hell,
but if I did I would think of it as filled with people
who were cruel to animals.

Gary Larson

If there is a heaven, it's certain our animals are to be there.
Their lives become so interwoven with our own,
it would take more than an archangel to detangle them.

Pam Brown

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

Abraham Lincoln

Shall we, because we walk on our hind feet,
assume to ourselves only the privilege of imperishability?

George Eliot

Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us,
these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them
so many years of our own lives.

John Galsworthy

Any glimpse into the life of an animal
quickens our own and makes it so much the larger
and better in every way.

John Muir

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.

St. Francis of Assisi

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.

Émile Zola

What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from loneliness of spirit.
For whatever happens to the beasts happens to man.
All things are connected.

Chief Seattle

If people were superior to animals,
they'd take better care of the world.

A A Milne
Winnie the Pooh

I have been studying the traits and dispositions
of the "lower animals" (so called) and contrasting them
with the traits and dispositions of man.
I find the result humiliating to me.

Mark Twain
Letters from the Earth, 1907

Animals are reliable, many full of love,
true in their affections, predictable in their actions,
grateful and loyal.
Difficult standards for people to live up to.

Alfred A. Montapert

There is an Indian legend which says when a human dies
there is a bridge they must cross to enter into heaven.
At the head of that bridge waits every animal
that human encountered during their lifetime.
The animals, based upon what they know of this person,
decide which humans may cross the bridge....
and which are turned away...
 
Unknown Author

 This is what you should do:
love the earth and sun and the animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labor to others,
hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people,
take off your hat to nothing known or unknown
or to any man or number of men ...
re-examine all you have been told at school
or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your own soul,
and your very flesh shall be a great poem.

Walt Whitman

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings
of body and mind quickly be freed from their pain.
May those frightened cease to be afraid
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power
and may people befriend all life.
May those of all species who find themselves lost,
the young, the aged, the unprotected,
be guarded by beneficent celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

Buddhist Prayer for Peace