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Links Between Animal and Human Abuse
Animal Sentience
Rights Vs. Welfare
Premarin
Social Responsible Investing
Why Animals Deserve Equality
Religion
Other Index Sites
QuotesThe greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its
animals are treated. Animals whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equals. All the arguments to prove human superiority cannot shatter this hard fact:
in suffering, the animals are our equals. The animals of the world exist for their own purposes. They were not made
for humans any more than blacks were made for whites, or women for men. To be Yourself in a world that tries, night and day, to make you just like
everybody else is to fight the greatest battle there ever is to fight-- and
never stop fighting. Kindness is the only service that will stand the storm of life and not wash
out. It will wear well, look well and be remembered long after the prism of
politeness or the complexion of courtesy has faded away. Our task must be to free ourselves...by widening our circle of compassion to
embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. It's a matter of taking the side of the week against the strong, something
the best people have always done. The soul is the same for all living creatures, although the body of each is
different. There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun
and destroy those who are weaker than he is. Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture
and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself. When a man wants to murder a tiger, it's called sport; when the tiger wants
to murder him it's called ferocity. And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe,
nor political, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him
that it is right. 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. 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. 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. The thinking [person] must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply
rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must
avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another... Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul Look deep into the eyes of any animal, and then for a moment, trade places,
their life becomes as precious as yours and you become as vulnerable as them.
Now smile if you believe all animals deserve our respect and our protection, for
in a way, they are us, and we are them. I am in favour of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a
whole human being. 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. Suppose that tomorrow 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 they have the right to treat you as you treat the
animals you breed, keep and kill for food? A thinking man feels compelled to approach all life with the same reverence
he has for his own. 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. If a man aspires toward a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from
injury to animals. The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be
indifferent to them. That's the essence of inhumanity. 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. Man has an infinite capacity to rationalize his own cruelty. More quotes can be found at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rabbit/arquotes.htm.
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