Who can guess how much industry and providence and affection we have caught from the pantomime of brutes?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.
—Jesse Jackson (b.1941) American Baptist Civil Rights Activist, Minister
No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor, but honest.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
I shoot the Hippopotamus
With bullets made of platinum,
Because if I use leaden ones
His hide is sure to flatten ’em.
—Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) British Historian, Poet, Critic
The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The better I know men the more I admire dogs.
—Unknown
Never try to teach a pig to think. It doesn’t work and it annoys the pig.
—Anonymous
Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equal.
—Charles Darwin (1809–82) English Naturalist
A peasant becomes fond of his pig and is glad to salt away its pork. What is significant, and is so difficult for the urban stranger to understand, is that the two statements are connected by an and not by a but.
—John Berger (1926–2017) English Art Critic, Novelist
Four legs good, two legs bad.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
My favorite animal is the mule. He has a lot more horse sense than a horse. He knows when to stop eating. And he knows when to stop working.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Animals are stylized characters in a kind of old saga—stylized because even the most acute of them have little leeway as they play out their parts.
—Edward Hoagland (b.1932) American Essayist, Novelist
He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
What is a country without rabbits and partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times; of the very hue and substance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to the ground.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Man, of all the animals, is probably the only one to regard himself as a great delicacy.
—Jacques Cousteau (1910–97) French Oceanographer, Documentary Director
Your rat tail is all the fashion now. I prefer a bushy plume, carried straight up. You are Siamese and your ancestors lived in trees. Mine lived in palaces. It has been suggested to me that I am a bit of a snob. How true! I prefer to be.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
—Samuel Butler
Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
They do not sweat and whine about their condition, they do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig. He just looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Shall we never have done with that cliche, so stupid that it could only be human, about the sympathy of animals for man when he is unhappy? Animals love happiness almost as much as we do. A fit of crying disturbs them, they’ll sometimes imitate sobbing, and for a moment they’ll reflect our sadness. But they flee unhappiness as they flee fever, and I believe that in the long run they are capable of boycotting it.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
In a few generations more, there will probably be no room at all allowed for animals on the earth: no need of them, no toleration of them. An immense agony will have then ceased, but with it there will also have passed away the last smile of the world’s youth.
—Ouida (Maria Louise Rame) (1839–1908) English Novelist
When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head!
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Is it not wonderful that the love of the animal parent should be so violent while it lasts and that it should last no longer than is necessary for the preservation of the young?
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
The best thing about animals is that they don’t talk much.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
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