If two lives join, there is oft a scar. They are one and one, with a shadowy third; One near one is too far.
Robert BrowningRead
I dare not so honor my mere wishes and prayers as to put them for a moment beside your noble acts; but this know, I would rather submit to the worst of deaths, so far as pain goes, than have a single dog or cat tortured on the pretence of sparing me a twinge or two.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote conveys a deep respect for the dignity of living beings over personal comfort.
In this poignant statement, Robert Browning emphasizes the importance of compassion and the moral obligation to protect all living creatures. He stresses that personal suffering is insignificant when compared to the suffering of animals, and he would choose to endure great pain rather than allow harm to come to them under the guise of preserving his own comfort.
Themes
CompassionSufferingAnimalsMoralitySacrifice
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used as a powerful reminder during animal rights advocacy speeches.
More from Robert Browning
All quotes →Tis Man's to explore up and down, inch by inch, with the taper his reason.
Robert BrowningRead
I think, am sure, a brother's love exceeds_x000D_ _x000D_ All the world's loves in its unworldliness.
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How well I know what I mean to do When the long dark Autumn evenings come, And where, my soul, is thy pleasant hue? With the music of all thy voices, dumb In life’s November too! I shall be found by the fire, suppose, O’er a great wise book as beseemeth age, While the shutters flap as the cross-wind blows, And I turn the page, and I turn the page, Not verse now, only prose!
Robert BrowningRead
How good is life, the mere living!
Robert BrowningRead
Where the apple reddens never pry - lest we lose our Edens, Eve and I.
Robert BrowningRead
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