“But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun, and light, and of that proportion of life and time they had been born into the world to enjoy.” – Plutarch (Greek biographer 100 C.E.)
“What do they know – all these scholars, all these philosophers, all the leaders of the world? They have convinced themselves that man, the worst transgressor of all the species, is the crown of creation. All other creatures were created merely to provide him with food, pelts, to be tormented, exterminated. In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka.” – Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1978 Nobel Prize Winner
“Men dig their graves with their own teeth, and die more by those instruments than by all weapons of their enemies.” -Pythagoras
“Animals and humans suffer and die alike. If you had to kill your own calf before you ate it, most likely you would not be able to do it. To hear the calf scream, to see the blood spill, to see the baby being taken away from its momma, and to see the look of death in the animal’s eye would turn your stomach. So you get the man at the packing house to do the killing for you.” – Dick Gregory (“The Shadow That Scares Me”)
“A human body in no way resembles those that were born for ravenousness; it hath no hawk’s bill, no sharp talon, no roughness of teeth, no such strength of stomach or heat of digestion, as can be sufficient to convert or alter such heavy and fleshy fare. But if you will contend that you were born to an inclination to such food as you have now a mind to eat, do you then yourself kill what you would eat. But do it yourself, without the help of a chopping-knife, mallet or axe, as wolves, bears, and lions do, who kill and eat at once. Rend an ox with thy teeth, worry a hog with thy mouth, tear a lamb or a hare in pieces, and fall on and eat it alive as they do. But if thou had rather stay until what thou eat is to become dead, and if thou art loath to force a soul out of its body, why then dost thou against nature eat an animate thing? There is nobody that is willing to eat even a lifeless and a dead thing even as it is; so they boil it, and roast it, and alter it by fire and medicines, as it were, changing and quenching the slaughtered gore with thousands of sweet sauces, that the palate being thereby deceived may admit of such uncouth fare.” – Plutarch
“Can you really ask for what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? I, for my part, marvel at which man was possessed, who was the first to pollute his mouth with gore, and to allow his lips to touch the flesh of murdered beings. How could his eyes endure the spectacle of the flayed and dismembered limbs? How was his taste not sickened by contact with festering wounds, with the pollution of corrupted blood and juices?” -Plutarch
“Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventures, and for hides and furs is a phenomenon which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging in such acts of brutality.” – His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama
“Wherefore I say to all those who desire to be disciples, keep your hands from bloodshed and let no flesh meat enter your mouths, for the Lord is just and bountiful; who ordains that man shall live by the fruits and seeds of the earth alone.” Jesus, Gospel of the Nazirenes, Chapter 38, Verse 4
“My refusing to eat meat occasioned inconveniency, and I have been frequently chided for my singularity. But my light repast allows for greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension.” – Benjamin Franklin (Politician, writer, scientist; 1706-1790)
“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. The more helpless the creature, the more it is entitled to protection from humans form the cruelty of humans.” – Gandhi
“People ask me how I look so young, I tell them I look my age. It is other people who look older, what do you expect from people who eat corpses?” – George Bernard Shaw (British playwright; 1856-1950)
“Animals are my friends. And I do not eat my friends.” – George Bernard Shaw
“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. The more helpless the creature, the more it is entitled to protection from humans form the cruelty of humans.” – Gandhi
“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.” – Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Dave Scott, considered the world’s greatest tri-athlete, holds a degree in exercise physiology. In his words, it’s a ‘ridiculous fallacy’ to think that athletes need animal protein. He is joined in his views by such Olympians as Edwin Moses, the gold medalist who went eight years without losing the 400-meter hurdle competition, and Murray Rose, who, at age 17, won three gold medals in the Olympic swim competition. This year, I was glad to see Olympic champion Carl Lewis crown his career with his best long jump in two years to win a record-tying ninth gold medal. Lewis, of course, is a longtime vegan whose dietary changes developed out of his moral and religious convictions. Several years ago Leroy Burrell and Carl Lewis traded titles back and forth when they were being hailed as the fastest sprinters in the world – and both were vegetarians. Whether you are a world-class athlete, a weekend athlete, or simply a recreational exerciser, we know that you can meet your performance objectives, and improve your health by eating a plant-based diet that meets your energy needs. Even at my present age of 93, I found that switching to a plant-based diet improved my health dramatically.” – Dr. Benjamin Spock (World’s foremost pediatrician; author of “Baby and Child Care”)
“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 (1452-1519)
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
“A disciple of the Buddha should have a mind of compassion and cultivate the practice of liberating sentient beings. He must reflect thus: throughout the eons of time, all male sentient beings have been my father, all female sentient beings my mother. I was born of them, if I slaughter them, I would be slaughtering my parents as well as eating flesh that was once my own. This is so because all elemental earth, water, fire and air-the four constituents of all life-have previously been part of my body, part of my substance. I must therefore always cultivate the practice of liberating sentient beings and enjoin others to do likewise-as sentient beings are forever reborn, again and again, lifetime after lifetime. If a Bodhisattva sees an animal on the verge of being killed, he must devise a way to rescue and protect it, helping it to escape suffering and death. The disciple should always teach the Bodhisattva precepts to rescue and deliver sentient beings.” – From the Brahma Net Sutra
“One day, I reached out to eat something and it ran away. Obviously, it didn’t want to be eaten.” – Dave Allen (Musician)
“You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (Philosopher/writer of “Nature”; 1803-1882)
“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.” – Anna Sewell (Author of “Black Beauty”; 1820-1878
all life is precious 