I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must that we will be kind and take care of their needs.
James HerriotRead
I wish people would realize that animals are totally dependent on us, helpless, like children, a trust that is put upon us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Animals rely on humans for care and protection, much like children depend on adults.
James Herriot highlights the deep responsibility humans have towards animals, emphasizing their vulnerability and dependence similar to that of children. This quote challenges us to acknowledge the trust that animals place in us and calls for compassion and responsible stewardship in our relationship with them.
Themes
AnimalsCompassionResponsibilityTrustHelplessness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in an animal welfare campaign to emphasize the importance of caring for pets.
More from James Herriot
All quotes βI have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.
James HerriotRead
I love writing about my job because I loved it, and it was a particularly interesting one when I was a young man. It was like holidays with pay to me.
James HerriotRead
Similar quotes
We, like the Mother of the World, become the compassionate presence that can hold, with tenderness, the rising and passing waves of suffering.
Tara BrachRead
Most people never really sat down and got to know a homeless person, but every homeless person is just a real person that was created by God and it is the same kind of different as us; they just have a different story.
Ron HallRead
Pity arises when we are sorry for someone.Compassion is when we understand and help wisely.
Gautama BuddhaRead
I wanted to be a doctor at some point, and I was always bringing home strays from school: people who were too poor to pay fees or have food. My parents never rebuked me or told me that they were hard-pressed, too.
Winnie Madikizela-MandelaRead
For animals that are overworked, underfed, and cruelly treated; for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death...and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words.
Albert SchweitzerRead
Aside from doing everything possible to provide programs for people who are seriously ill, I want to do everything humanly possible to help create a more caring society so that we can begin to counter the painful loneliness and sense of helplessness which has engulfed too many of our people.
Rosalynn CarterRead