"Alas, what wickedness to swallow flesh into our own flesh, to fatten our greedy bodies by cramming in other bodies, to have one living creature fed by the death of another! ... As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other."
-PYTHAGORAS (circa 582-507 B.C.)
"The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion."
-SOCRATES (469-399 B.C.)
"The gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies... they are the trees and the plants and the seeds."
-PLATO (circa 428-347 B.C.)
"Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: We are burial places!"
-LEONARDO DA VINCI (1425-1519)
"Men fed upon carnage, and drinking strong drinks, have all an impoisoned and acrid blood which drives them mad in a hundred different ways.
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-VOLTAIRE (1694-1778)
"My refusing to eat meat occasioned an 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 (1706-1790)
"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
-IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)
"The moral duty of man consists of imitating the moral goodness and beneficence of God, manifested in the creation towards all his creatures. Everything of persecution and revenge between man and man, and everything of cruelty to animals is a violation of moral duty"
-THOMAS PAINE (1737-1809)
"Like my friend the Doctor, I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principle diet."
-THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826)
"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man."
-CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882)
"I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race in its gradual development to leave off the eating of animals as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized."
-HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862)
"If a man earnestly seeks a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from animal food..."
-LEO TOLSTOY (1828-1910)
"Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way." ... "Surely a better time must be drawing nigh when godlike human beings will become truly humane, and learn to put their animal fellow mortals in their hearts instead of on their backs or in their dinners."
-JOHN MUIR (1838-1914)
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages." ... "I am vegetarian and I don’t drink in order to make better use of my brain."
-THOMAS EDISON (1847-1931)
"Since visiting the abbatoirs [slaughterhouses] of South France, I have stopped eating meat."
-VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890)
"On general principles the raising of cattle as a means of providing food is objectionable. It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarian habit. That we can subsist on plant food and perform our work even to advantage is not a theory but a well-demonstrated fact. Many races living almost exclusively on vegetables are of superior physique and strength. There is no doubt that some plant food, such as oatmeal, is more economical than meat, and superior to it in regard to both mechanical and mental performance. Such food, moreover, taxes our digestive organs decidedly less, and in making us more contented and sociable, produces an amount of good difficult to estimate. In view of these facts every effort should be made to stop the wanton, cruel slaughter of animals, which must be destructive to our morals."
-NIKOLA TESLA (1856-1943)
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." ... "Our task must be to free ourselves...by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."
-ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)
"Now I can look at you in peace; I don`t eat you any more."
-FRANZ KAFKA (1883 - 1924)
"Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food."
-GOD (day 6)