Home .Site Updates About, Achievement Reports FAQ's Disclaimer, Copyright, Contact
Pet Chin Rescue & Rehoming ..International Chinchilla Rescue Network (ICRN) Quotes For Compassion
Saving Ranch Chinchillas ..Pet Homes For Ranchies: News, Information, Photos
Make A Difference ..Change by Choice Show You Care, Donate ChinCare: Educating Chinparents
MM promotes positive activism, not AR extremism, see: Correcting Misconceptions and Defining Terms

QUOTES FOR COMPASSION


A Prayer For Animals
Hear our humble prayer, Oh God, for our friends the animals,
especially for ones who are suffering;
for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put to death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity, and
for those who deal with them,
we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.

by Dr. Albert Schweitzer, (1875-1965)
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Physician, Philosopher, Mission Doctor, Theologian



You know what you do makes only a tiny ripple on the ocean of problems that millions of animals face in the world, but one ripple is better than none. One animal saved is better than none. Making a difference for one is better than making no difference for any...
~ Virginia McKenna OBE, Founder: Born Free Foundation, Patron: Animals Asia Foundation




I abhor vivisection. It should at least be curbed. Better, it should be abolished. I know of no achievement through vivisection, no scientific discovery, that could not have been obtained without such barbarism and cruelty. The whole thing is evil.
~ Dr. Charles Mayo, Founder of the Mayo Clinic




Animals cannot speak, but can you and I not speak for them and represent them? Let us all feel their silent cry of agony and let us all help that cry to be heard in the world.
~ Rukmini Devi Arundale, Advocate for the Arts and Education in India




Because one species is more clever than another, does it give it the right to imprison or torture the less clever species? Does one exceptionally clever individual have a right to exploit the less clever individuals of his own species? To say that he does is to say with the Fascists that the strong have a right to abuse and exploit the weak - might is right, and the strong and ruthless shall inherit the earth.
~ Dr. Richard D. Ryder, Psychologist, Ethicist, Political Campaigner, past chairman of the RSPCA.




The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet, Essayist, Lecturer




The history of cancer research has been a history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have been curing mice for decades, and it simply didn't work in humans.
~ Dr. Richard Klausner, National Cancer Institute, LA Times, May 6, 1998




My doctrine is this: That if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and we do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.
~ Anna Sewell, Author of Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse




If people were superior to animals, they'd take better care of the world.
~ A.A. Milne, English Author





Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventures, and for hides and furs is a phenomenon which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging in such acts of brutality.
~ His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet




Cruelty has cursed the human family for countless ages. It is almost impossible for one to be cruel to animals and kind to humans. If children are permitted to be cruel to their pets and other animals, they easily learn to get the same pleasure from the misery of fellow humans. Such tendencies can easily lead to crime.
~ Fred A. McGrand, Animal Activist




Killing an animal to make a coat is sin. It wasn't meant to be, and we have no right to do it. A woman gains status when she refuses to see anything killed to be put on her back. Then she's truly beautiful.

~ Doris Day , Actress, Singer,
founder: The Doris Day Animal League




The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, "On the Basis of Morality"




In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people.
~ Ruth Harrison, author of "Animal Machines"




The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.

The lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery.
~ Charles Darwin, Scientist




The indifference, callousness and contempt that so many people exhibit toward animals is evil first because it results in great suffering in animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great impoverishment of the human spirit. All education should be directed toward the refinement of the individual's sensibilities in relation not only to one's fellow humans everywhere, but to all things whatsoever.
~ Ashley Montagu, anthropologist, professor, author and social theorist




Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him when he shows no mercy to what is under him?
~ Pierre Troubetzkoy, Russian Painter




The basis of all animal rights should be the Golden Rule: we should treat them as we would wish them to treat us, were any other species in our dominant position.
~ Christine Stevens, Animal Welfare Institute’s Founder, President and Inspiration, known as the ‘Mother of the Animal Protection Movement’




Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
~ Mary Anne Evans, AKA, George Eliot, Celebrated Victorian Author




I despise and abhor the pleas on behalf of that infamous practice, vivisection... I would rather submit to the worst of deaths, so far as pain goes, than have a single dog or cat tortured to death on the pretense of sparing me a twinge or two.
~ Robert Browning, British Poet




Behind every beautiful fur, there is a story. It is a bloody, barbaric story.
~ Mary Tyler Moore, Actress, Animal Activist and Vegetarian




Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
~ Horace Mann, Educational Reformer, Congressman and Slavery Abolitionist




At the moment our human world is based on the suffering and destruction of millions of non-humans. To perceive this and to do something to change it in personal and public ways is to undergo a change of perception akin to a religious conversion. Nothing can ever be seen in quite the same way again because once you have admitted the terror and pain of other species you will, unless you resist conversion, be always aware of the endless permutations of suffering that support our society.
~ Arthur Conan Doyle, British Author




It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sakes and not for the sake of anything else.

~ Maimonides, 12th Century Physician, Philosopher




Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
~ Elie Wiesel, Author, Professor, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Holocaust survivor




I had bought two male chimps from a primate colony in Holland. They lived next to each other in separate cages for several months before I used one as a [heart] donor. When we put him to sleep in his cage in preparation for the operation, he chattered and cried incessantly. We attached no significance to this, but it must have made a great impression on his companion, for when we removed the body to the operating room, the other chimp wept bitterly and was inconsolable for days. The incident made a deep impression on me. I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures.
~ Christian Barnard, surgeon




Arson and cruelty to animals are 2 of 3 childhood warning signs regarding the potential to be a serial killer.
~ John Douglas, profiler of serial killers for the FBI




Animal studies can neither prove or guarantee the safety of any drug. They are not a substitute for testing in humans.
~ J. Jennings, Vice President, Science and Technology of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association




The world, we are told, was made especially for man--a presumption not supported by all the facts... Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation?

~ John Muir, U.S. Naturalist and Explorer




Cruelty to animals is as if man did not love God.
~ Cardinal John Henry Newman




In an earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured, shipped to America and sold.

In Australia white settlers regarded Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming, of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo slaughter and the destruction of wilderness. We must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics.
~ Pete Singer, Academic Philosopher, Author




To inflict cruelties on defenseless creatures, or condone such acts, is to abuse one of the cardinal tenets of a civilized society- reverence for life.
~ Jon Evans, Animal Activist




Kindness to animals and respect for all life are the only meaningful foundation for a civilized world.
~ Michael Mountain, president and one of the founders of Best Friends Animal Society




Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to.
~ Alfred A. Montapert, Author





The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature
that cannot.

I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't...The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.
~ Mark Twain, Classic American Author and Humorist




No animal experiment with a medicine, even if it is carried out on several animal species including primates, under all conceivable conditions, can give any guarantee that the medicine tested in this way will behave the same in humans; because in many respects, the human is not the same as the animal.

~ Ernst Boris, Nobel prize winner for antibacterial effects of penicillin




Man by violating his own feelings becomes cruel. And how deeply seated in the human heart is the injunction not to take life.

What I think about vivisection is that if people admit that they have the right to take or endanger the life of living beings for the benefit of many, there will be no limit to their cruelty.
~ Leo Tolstoy, Russian Author





The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.
~ Hippocrates, 4th century Greek Physician





This we know. The Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
~ Chief Seattle, his Address, 1853




There is no question of any advantage to be gained at all. Animal experiments confuse the issues and their results will never have scientific precision. There is absolutely no connection between vivisection and human health. The general belief in the value of animal experimentation is the result of brainwashing that the public has been submitted to for a long time. Behind it are the pharmaceutical industries, which spend fortunes on publicity and finance the research in institutes and the universities.
~ Dr. Arie Brecher, M.D., extract from a lecture to the Medical and Juridical Society on November 1, 1986




To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.
~ Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the U.S.




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.
~ Thomas A. Edison, Scientist and Inventor




I'm dismayed and disgusted to see precious health care dollars squandered away on these trivial, irrelevant, repetitive, misleading animal experiments.

~ Murray Cohen, M.D.




During my medical education at the University of Basel I found vivisection horrible, barbarous, and above all unnecessary.

~ Carl G. Jung, Psychologist




The animals share with us the privilege of having a soul. For 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. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.
~ Pythagoras, 6th century BC Greek philosopher, mathematician, and the first influential Western practitioner of vegetarianism




There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is.

Even in the worm that crawls in the earth there glows a divine spark. When you slaughter a creature, you slaughter God.

...he always had the same thought: in their behaviour toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right.
.~ Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1978
Nobel Author




We call for pioneers. Our appeal is to those who have a more alert intelligence, greater courage and daring, and a higher ideal than the rank and file.

~ Walter R. Hadwen, MD, founder of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection




Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, don't harrass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you - alas, it is true of almost every one of us!
~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian Author





A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is a bad as an act of cruelty to a human being.
~ Prophet Mohammed




Animals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight. And after I've finished 'shooting,' my unharmed victims are still around for others to enjoy. I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated any more than those of humans.

~ Jimmy Stewart, Actor





We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. (Outspoken Essays, 1922)

Deliberate cruelty to our defenceless and beautiful little cousins is surely one of the meanest and most detestable vices of which a human being can be guilty.
~ William Ralph Inge, English Author and Anglican Prelate




Life is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Hindu Philosopher




Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character.
~ George Bernard Shaw, Literary Critic, Playwright, Nobel Prize Winner




The tendency to cruelty should be watched in children and if they incline to any such cruelty, they should be taught the contrary usage. For the custom of tormenting and killing other animals will, by degrees, harden their hearts even toward man. Children should from the beginning be brought up in an abhorrence of killing or tormenting living beings. They who delight in the suffering and destruction of inferior creatures will not be apt to be very compassionate or benign to their own kind.
~ John Locke, 17th century Medical Researcher and Physician, Philosopher, Political Operative, Economist and Idealogue for a revolutionary movement




If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.

Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to humankind.

Any society which does not insist upon respect for all life must necessarily decay.
~ Albert Einstein, Mathemetician and Physicist




When I first left the laboratory, I remained skeptical, stating, "there are some good experiments to be sure, but the majority are worthless", or words to that effect. Now after years of looking for those "good" experiments, I have long since concluded that they do not exist. But I had to do the looking myself. I was simply too conditioned to the "Party Line" to accept anyone’s word for this.

~ Donald J. Barnes, after experimenting on rhesus monkeys for 16 years




First it was necessary to civilize man in relation to man.
Now it is necessary to civilize man in relation to nature and the animals.

~ Victor Hugo, French Dramatist, Novelist and Statesman




Vivisection is barbaric, useless, and a hindrance to scientific progress.
~ Dr. Werner Hartinger, Chief Surgeon, West Germany, 1988




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 ...[they] are an obligation put on us, a responsibility we have no right to neglect, nor to violate by cruelty.

If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.
~ James Herriot, British Veterinarian and Author





The medical argument for animal testing doesn't stand up. Even if it did, I don't think we should kill other species. We think we're so much better; I'm not sure we are. I tell people, "We've beaten into submission every animal on the face of the Earth, so we are the clear winners of whatever battle is going on between the species. Couldn't we be generous?" I really do think it's time to get nice. No need to keep beating up on them. I think we've got to show that we're kind.
~ Paul McCartney, British Musician, The Beatles




To educate our people, and especially our children, to humane attitudes and actions toward living things is to preserve and strengthen our national heritage and the moral values we champion in the world.
~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy, thirty-fifth President of the United States




It is not possible to extrapolate animal data directly to man, due to interspecies variation in anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.
~ Dr MacLennan and Dr Amos, Clinical Sciences Research Ltd., UK.




Vivisection is the blackest of all the black crimes that a man is at present committing against God and his fair creation. It ill becomes us to invoke in our daily prayers the blessings of God, the Compassionate, if we in turn will not practise elementary compassion towards our fellow creatures.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals
are treated.

To my mind the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body. I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to the protection by man from the cruelty of man.
~ Mohandas Gandhi




I look at it as wearing the skin of a child on your back.
An innocent victim has been skinned and you're wearing him or her.
~ Pamela Anderson, Actress, on leather and fur





The awful wrongs and sufferings forced upon the innocent, helpless, faithful animal race form the blackest chapter in the whole world's history.
~ Edward Augustus Freeman, English Historian




We should remember in our dealings with animals that they are a sacred trust to us from our heavenly Father. They are dumb and cannot speak for themselves.

Concern for animals is a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done.
~ Harriet Beecher Stowe, Slavery Abolitionist and Author




Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally OK to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us." Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.
~ Charles R. Magel, as chairman of the philosophy department at Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minnesota, he initiated what is probably the nation's first course entirely on animal rights to be offered regularly at the university level




If man is not to stifle human feelings, he must practice kindness to animals, for 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, 18th century German Philosopher and founder of Critical Philosophy




Every year tens of thousands of animals suffer and die in laboratory tests of cosmetics and household products... despite the fact that the test results do not help prevent or treat accidental or purposeful misuse of the products. Please join me in using your voice for those whose cries are forever sealed behind the laboratory doors.
~ Woody Harrelson, Actor, Anti-Vivisection Activist




Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears
pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures.
~ Dalai Lama, Tibetan Spiritual Leader




There is an Indian legend which says when a human dies there is a bridge they must cross to enter into heaven. At the head of that bridge waits every animal that human encountered during their lifetime. The animals, based upon what they know of this person, decide which humans may cross the bridge.... and which are turned away...
~ Unknown




Cruelty is a fashion statement we can all do without.

~ Rue McClanahan, Actress, Animal Activist




Before the bar of human justice, vivisection stands condemned on three main counts: cruelty to animals, uselessness to Man, and obstruction on the path of true knowledge.
~ Dr. M. Beddow Baily, MD, IRCP, Member Royal College of Surgeons, in More Spotlights on Vivisection (London, Pergamon Press, 1958)




The non-human animals are in fact the ones that I would call human. This is what the dictionary tells them that "human" means: doing the right thing, being honest, charitable, being open to others, rising above self-interest.... How many humans do you know that fit that definition?
~ Vegan Voice, 6/2001 interview with Brigitte Bardot, French Actress and founder of the animal rights organization: Brigitte Bardot Foundation




If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.
~ C.S. Lewis, British Scholar, Author, Professor




If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity,
you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
~ Saint Francis of Assisi





Cruelty to animals is one of the most significant vices of a low and ignoble people. Wherever one notices them, they constitute a sure sign of ignorance and brutality which cannot be painted over even by all the evidence of wealth and luxury. Cruelty to animals cannot exist together with true education and true learning.

~ Alexander von Humboldt, German Naturalist and Explorer





The deeper minds of all ages have had pity for animals.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Existentialist Philosopher




Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is - whether the victim is human or animal - we cannot expect things to be much better in this world. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity.
~ Rachel Carson, U.S. Biologist and Author




The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.
~ Leonardo Da Vinci, 15th century Painter, Sculptor, Architect, Musician, Engineer, Inventor and Scientist.




When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble.
~ The Buddha, 6th century BC




I feel very sorry for women who continue to purchase real fur coats.
They are lacking in a woman's most important requisites, heart and sensitivity.

~ Jayne Meadows, Broadway star, Emmy winner




To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime.
~ Romain Rolland, Nobel Prize 1915




Results from animal tests are not transferable between species, and therefore cannot guarantee product safety for humans... In reality these tests do not provide protection for consumers from unsafe products, but rather they are used to protect corporations from legal liability.
~ Herbert Gundersheimer, M.D., member, PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine)



~ Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.

~ We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals.
Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings
on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it.
Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.

~ Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human life.

~ A thinking man feels compelled to approach all life with the same reverence he has for his own.

~ Ethics in our Western world has hitherto been largely limited to the relations of man to man.
But that is a limited ethics. We need a boundless ethics which will include the animals also.
To the truly ethical man, all of life is sacred, including forms of life that, from the human point of view,
may seem lower than ours.


Quotes by Dr. Albert Schweitzer