Quotes on Animal

I think that intelligence is such a narrow branch of the tree of life - this branch of primates we call humans. No other animal, by our definition, can be considered intelligent. So intelligence can't be all that important for survival, because there are so many animals that don't have what we call intelligence, and they're surviving just fine.

There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce.

In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.

Most sorts of diversion in men, children and other animals, are in imitation of fighting.

The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals.

Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with another.

Just about every children's book in my local bookstore has an animal for its hero. But then, only a few feet away in the cookbook section, just about every cookbook includes recipes for cooking animals. Is there a more illuminating illustration of our paradoxical relationship with the nonhuman world?

There is an overabundance of rational reasons to say no to factory-farmed meat: It is the No. 1 cause of global warming, it systematically forces tens of billions of animals to suffer in ways that would be illegal if they were dogs, it is a decisive factor in the development of swine and avian flus, and so on.

So, basically, my view is I don't want to support the exploitation of animals, and within reason, I will do what I can to avoid it, but it's not like it's a religion for me. It's not like I consider I'm polluted if somehow some bit of milk or cheese or something passes my lips.

All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering, the animals are our equals.

People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times.

As for the dinosaur - But Noah's conscience was easy; it was not named in his cargo list and he and the boys were not aware that there was such a creature. He said he could not blame himself for not knowing about the dinosaur, because it was an American animal and America had not then been discovered.

One single idea may have greater weight than all the men, animals, and machines for a century.

Man is the only animals of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid.

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.

Our animal friends’ non-reactive and forgiving natures can teach us positive spiritual lessons on a daily basis.

Take the entire 4.5-billion-year history of the earth and scale it down to a single year, with January 1 being the origin of the earth and midnight on December 31 being the present. Until June, the only organisms were single-celled microbes, such as algae, bacteria, and amoebae. The first animal with a head did not appear until October. The first human appears on December 31. We, like all the animals and plants that have ever lived, are recent crashers at the party of life on earth.

We need to renegotiate our contract with nature. Ecology is a unifying force that can diminish intolerance and expand our empathy towards others - both human and animal.

Society tames the wolf into a dog. And man is the most domesticated animal of all.

We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome.

I'm not over-fond of animals. I am merely astounded by them.