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Thread: For new vegans: famous quotes

  1. #1
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default For new vegans: famous quotes

    Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist & philosopher, (1829-1910):
    "If a man earnestly seeks a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from animal food."

    Albert Einstein, physicist, 1921 Nobel Prize recipient:
    "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."

    "It is my view that a vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."

    Alice Walker, American author, The Color Purple:
    "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites, or women for men."

    Mahatma Gandhi, Hindu pacifist and spiritual leader, (1869-1948):

    "It is very significant that some of the most thoughtful and cultured men are partisans of a pure vegetable diet."

    "I do not regard flesh-food as necessary for us at any stage and under any clime in which it is possible for human beings ordinarily to live, I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species."


    Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian sculptor, artist, inventor, (142:1519):


    "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."

    Plutarch, Greek philosopher, (46-120 A.D.):

    "The obligations of law and equity reach only to mankind; but kindness and beneficence should be extended to the creatures of every species and these will flow from the breast of a true man, as streams that issue from the living fountain."

    Henry David Thoreau, American author, naturalist (1812-1862):

    "Every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food."

    George Bernard Shaw, Anglo-Irish author and playwright, 1925 Nobel Prize Recipient, (1856-1950):

    "My situation is a solemn one: life is offered to me on the condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed, not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarves in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures. It will be, without the exception of Noah's Ark, the most remarkable thing of its kind ever seen."

    "The average age (longevity) of a meat-eater is 63. I am on the verge of 85 and still at work as hard as ever. I have lived quite long enough and am trying to die, but I simply cannot do it. A single beefsteak would finish me, but I cannot bring myself to swallow it. I am oppressed with a dread of living forever. That is the only disadvantage of vegetarianism."

    Plato, Greek philosopher, (circa 428-347 B.C.):

    "The Gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies; they are the trees and the plants and the seeds."

    Albert Schweitzer, M.D., Alsatian philosopher and medical missionary, 1952 Nobel prize recipient, (1875-1965):

    "--There slowly grew up in me an unshakable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another living creature, unless there is some unavoidable necessity for it."

    Benjamin Spock, M.D, the famous Dr. Spock pediatrician and author, (1903-1998):

    "When I was 88 years old, I gave up meat entirely and switched to a plant foods diet following a slight stroke. During the following months, I not only lost 50 pounds, but gained strength in my legs and picked up stamina. Now, at age 93, I'm on the same plant-based diet, and I still don't eat any meat or dairy products. I either swim, walk, or paddle a canoe daily and I feel the best I've felt since my heart problems began."

    Isaac Bashevis Singer, Yiddish Laureate of literature, 1978 Nobel Prize recipient, (1904-1991):

    "If there would come a voice from God saying, 'I'm against vegetarianism!' I would say, 'Well, I am for it!' This is how strongly I feel in this regard."

    Benjamin Franklin, American statesman, inventor, (1706-1790):

    "My refusing to eat meat occasioned 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."

    Sir Thomas More, Statesman and Author (1478-1535):

    "The utopians feel that slaughtering our fellow creatures gradually destroys the sense of compassion, which is the finest sentiment of which our human nature is capable."

    John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution:

    "It is increasingly obvious that environmentally sustainable solutions to world hunger can only emerge as people eat more plant foods and fewer animal products. To me it is deeply moving that the same food choices that give us the best chance to eliminate world hunger are also those that take the least toll on the environment, contribute the most to our long-term health, are the safest, and are also, far and away, the most compassionate towards our fellow creatures."

    Michael Klaper, M.D., American author and international lecturer:

    "People are the only animals that drink the milk of the mother of another species. All other animals stop drinking milk altogether after weaning. It is unnatural for a dog to nurse from a mother giraffe; it is just as unnatural for a human being to drink the milk of a cow."
    Thanks to By M. Butterflies Katz at www.gentleworld.org for collecting these and other quotes.

    In short - if you plan to go vegan and feel alone about doing it, remember that you are in relatively good company.

    We have more quotes here.

  2. #2
    VeganJohn
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    Great quotes Korn. One favourite of mine is:

    'Auschwitz happens when people look at a slaughterhouse and think they are only animals' - Theodore Adorno.

  3. #3
    CarrotCruncher applepie's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Thanks a lot Korn!
    I think my signature fits in here as well as another great quote:

    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
    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

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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    One of my favorites is....


    Men dig their Graves with their own Teeth and die more by those fated Instruments than by the Weapons of their Enemies. -- Thomas Moffet

  5. #5
    katiebean
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    Thanks for posting those, I like them very much.

  6. #6
    100% sure – I'm going vegan! yum's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    thanks for posting these quotes- it's interesting to see vegetarians from years and years ago

    yum
    xxx

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    katiebean
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  8. #8
    RubyDuby
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    ooh, i love quotes.

    Here are a few more:

    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

    Poor animals! How jealously they guard their pathetic bodies . . . that which to us is merely an evening's meal, but to them is life itself.
    ~T. Casey Brennan

    Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
    ~Margaret Mead

    To forgive and accept injustice is cowardice.
    ~Mohandas Gandhi

    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

    Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.
    ~Stanislaw Lec

    A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.
    ~Leo Tolstoy

    Flesh eating is unprovoked murder.
    ~Ben Franklin
    Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.

  9. #9
    LuVegan15
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    Really great quotes, thanks for posting.
    My favourite has to be ''Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty'', becuase it's so true.

  10. #10
    RubyDuby
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    mine too!
    Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.

  11. #11
    LuVegan15
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    ''Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." I also like this one.. I have it on my YouTube =)

  12. #12
    Good sperm
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    One of my faves, by one of my fave vegans

    "If beef is your idea of "real food for real people", you'd better live real close to a real good hospital" - Dr Barnard

  13. #13
    told me to Mr Flibble's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    I'm glad that so many find quotes motivational - personally I find it generally misleading when you take a small snippet out of a longer piece and don't provide the rest of the piece for reference.

    Take for instance "The Gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies" (this is the first that I randomly selected from the above). Run a google search. How many results? 5 - all pro vegetarian/environmental. Did Plato really say this? It'd be nice to think so, but I'm not so sure.

    Obviously plato didn't actually say this, because he didn't speak english, so it could just be a translation and there's actually millions of results for a slight rewording. 10 minutes later of google searches however on the theme of where this quote could have come from and I'm no closer to finding anything.

    What I have found is various other examples of "quote mining" and simply made up lines from people who lived thousands of years ago that can't be 100% disproved, but are most likely rubbish. For example, here's another Plato quote.

    I'd like to think that us vegans are generally intelligent, intellectual people. I certainly think that a lot of people could be "converted" were they somehow exposed to impartial facts and logic (obviously not all people would, which is why the likes of peta exist - idiots educating idiots ). Could when quotes are posted for the purpose of motivation potential vegans they include references? That way they could a) be surer of their authenticity and b) read more from where it came and get even more motivated. If there are no references and a likely hood that it is made up, but is still a good quote, could it just be made anonymous instead?
    "Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock

  14. #14
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    If you're saying that one shouldn't quote anything that is translated because the translation may be wrong, I disagree.... erratic translations happen all the time, and what eg. various originally was written in various religious scriptures have been discussed for ages. A translation is often more than a translation, it's also a rewording - with room for interpretation. As such any quote - or any text - may be 'most likely rubbish', but also make a lot of sense.

    The quotes I posted in the first thread are just pasted over from another site (which didn't link the sources), but I agree that posting sources normally is a good idea. Since these quotes are only quotes, and as such normally only are 'small snippets taken out of a longer piece', people may not expect more from a quote than just a... quote.

    Most of the quoted people above apparently are/were vegetarians or vegans, and even if they weren't - if they said something that made sense, why not quote it.

    Personally, I don't know much about the man behind the example you mentioned (Plato), but there's a tiny bit more information here:

    THE ORGINS OF MODERN VEGETARIANISM

    ...and here, from The (UK) Vegetarian Society:
    Far from being a relatively new phenomenon, vegetarianism has enjoyed a long and diverse history and has been preserved in most cultures since the very beginnings of time.

    Both these sites are mentioning Plato. It doesn't really bother or surprise me that pro vegan/environmental statements from historical people are quoted mainly on pro vegan/environmental sites, but when it comes to quotes, I'm personally not so interested in who said what, but what they said.

    Regarding stuff that most likely is rubbish, I don't really have any opinion about the degree of rubbish-ness in old texts. What they wrote (or how it is repeated today) may be rubbish, what we read today may be true to the original text, or may even make more sense than what they wrote. But then again - I'm Norwegian, so everything I write here is already translated from Norwegian and therefore slightly reworded. Don't trust my words!

    If any of you find sources for these quotes - or that the mentioned people actually never wrote/said what http://www.gentleworld.org/ claim that they did, please let me know, and I'll edit the original post in this thread...

  15. #15
    Trethewey
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Benjamin Franklin, American statesman, inventor, (1706-1790):

    "My refusing to eat meat occasioned 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."

    I heard once from my non-vegan uncle that Benjamin Franklin was fishing in the Atlantic or something and saw people eating fish with smaller fish inside, and decided to forgo vegetarianism because of this. Doesn't seem like something a logical, brilliant man like Benjamin Franklin would do though. Anyone know more about this>? Thanks for the quotes btw

  16. #16
    JoeGoldfarb
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    Quote Mr Flibble View Post
    I'm glad that so many find quotes motivational - personally I find it generally misleading when you take a small snippet out of a longer piece and don't provide the rest of the piece for reference.

    Take for instance "The Gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies" (this is the first that I randomly selected from the above). Run a google search. How many results? 5 - all pro vegetarian/environmental. Did Plato really say this? It'd be nice to think so, but I'm not so sure.

    Obviously plato didn't actually say this, because he didn't speak english, so it could just be a translation and there's actually millions of results for a slight rewording. 10 minutes later of google searches however on the theme of where this quote could have come from and I'm no closer to finding anything.

    What I have found is various other examples of "quote mining" and simply made up lines from people who lived thousands of years ago that can't be 100% disproved, but are most likely rubbish. For example, here's another Plato quote.

    I'd like to think that us vegans are generally intelligent, intellectual people. I certainly think that a lot of people could be "converted" were they somehow exposed to impartial facts and logic (obviously not all people would, which is why the likes of peta exist - idiots educating idiots ). Could when quotes are posted for the purpose of motivation potential vegans they include references? That way they could a) be surer of their authenticity and b) read more from where it came and get even more motivated. If there are no references and a likely hood that it is made up, but is still a good quote, could it just be made anonymous instead?
    "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

    the leonardo statement regarding murder is a misquote and is "not authentic": http://www.ivu.org/history/davinci/

  17. #17
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes


  18. #18
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    "You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car". (Harvey Diamond)
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    ^ I love that one! I laughed out loud and nearly spit out my drink when I read that in Fit For Life. I might even make that my sig. Hmm...

  20. #20
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Here's another quote from Plutarch (c.AD 46 - c.120):



    Why do you belie the earth, as if it were unable to feed and nourish you? Does it not shame you to mingle murder and blood with her beneficent fruits? Other carnivora you call savage and ferocious - lions and tigers and serpents - while yourselves come behind them in no species of barbarity. And yet for them murder is the only means of sustenance! Whereas to you it is superfluous luxury and crime!

    But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.
    Last edited by Korn; Jun 3rd, 2009 at 06:04 PM.
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    hey--if anyone knows what quote im talking about, i would LOVE to have someone quote the whole thing...i read it several years ago, i think on someone signature on a raw vegan website, but then i could never find it again, even when i searched that website and posted asking if anyone knew it. but it was something to the effect of how animal flesh does not call to us/does not reveal itself to us as something to be eaten, but how the plants and herbs, like sage, etc, how the very smell of them etc attracts us to them as what we shoudl be eating. this was really poignant to me in trying to make the veg argument to others. i wish i coudl find the quote though...anyone know?

    thanks much

    kaybee

  22. #22
    babak.deghat's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect for life is not a true religion or philosophy.Albert Schweitzer
    it is not important if there is god or not.the importance is that can you keep being a good person without any heaven at end?

  23. #23
    Mahk
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    "Thou shalt not kill." - God

  24. #24
    Mahk
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    Quote Trethewey View Post
    Benjamin Franklin, American statesman, inventor, (1706-1790):

    "My refusing to eat meat occasioned 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."

    I heard once from my non-vegan uncle that Benjamin Franklin was fishing in the Atlantic or something and saw people eating fish with smaller fish inside, and decided to forgo vegetarianism because of this. Doesn't seem like something a logical, brilliant man like Benjamin Franklin would do though. Anyone know more about this>? Thanks for the quotes btw
    link
    ---

    Our third President of the US, Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the US Declaration of Independence, was the closest to the US ever having a vegetarian president. Keep in mind when he was living on a principally vegetable based diet the word "vegetarian" hadn't even been coined yet. Such people were sometimes referred to as "Pythagoreans" after the Greek philosopher who, for the most part, didn't eat meat.

  25. #25

    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    "I saw with open eyes
    Singing birds sweet
    Sold in the shops
    For the people to eat,
    Sold in the shops of
    Stupidity Street."

    - Ralph Hodgson, Stupidity Street



    I was reading a book of quotations and came across it. I'm not sure how well it fits in here...
    The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.

  26. #26
    *live*&*let*live
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    ^ that's brilliant ^ (not the killing birds but the stupidity street!)

  27. #27
    vtveg
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    Here's mine - I just wrote this;

    "I hold you in my heart, but not to my lips, nor wrapped around my skin, for your life is as precious as mine. And with my life I will honor yours; until breath has left me, and the flesh from my bones".

    I thought of getting a tattoo of some kind, with a quote like this (or from someone else) and thought the "and the flesh from my bones" would be rather appropriate if this were tattooed on me

    Anyway, just tinkering. I am a poet, always have been, but have neglecting my writing for too long. Maybe my new veganism will help trigger things such as this?!

  28. #28
    tombenarye1234
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    a really great one: "If beef is your idea of `real food for real people,' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital."
    XD

  29. #29
    tombenarye1234
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    here are a few more. i don't know how famous these quotes are, but i think they are rather good:
    You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
    [a friend of mine said the quote would be much better if you switch the word "for" into "to". i agree.]

    man's sense of righteousness should not be judged when it matches his education neither when it matches his culture, but when it contradicts them.

    the worst sin is the inability to defend yourself. how else would you explain that the vicious creatures who commit this horrible "crime" are condemnd to the worst punishments in history?

    There is truth, and there is untruth. To be in a minority of one doesn't make you mad.

    The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against.
    Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population - the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it's the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it's the fools that form the overwhelming majority.

    have you ever wondered about the first man who found out you can get milk from cows...what actually was he trying to do?

    and two about human nature:
    E.O. Wilson, in response to the Marxist utopia of the end of class/hierarchical society: “Good theory. Wrong species.”

    Unlike the stuff of physics, the stuff of history often lacks elegance.
    Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that human beings had no role in the creation of the physical universe.

  30. #30
    DavidT's Avatar
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    That reminds me of the first person to watch an egg being laid, then thinking, "I'm going to boil that for three minutes and then eat it!"

    Scary stuff, eh?
    "The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

  31. #31
    RubyDuby
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    Quote tombenarye1234 View Post
    You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.


    the worst sin is the inability to defend yourself. how else would you explain that the vicious creatures who commit this horrible "crime" are condemnd to the worst punishments in history?
    i really like these.
    Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.

  32. #32
    tombenarye1234
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    Quote RubyDuby View Post
    i really like these.
    your signiture is not bad either ^^
    *adding it to my quote collection*

    oh! i forgotten one of my favorites!
    If you prick cows, do they not bleed? if you tickle dogs, do they not laugh? if you poison fish, do they not die? and if you abuse them, shall the society not protect them? If they are like you in the rest, they should resemble you in that.

  33. #33
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    GREAT thread. I just updated my FB quotes with a few from here!

    I especially like the one by Ben Franklin:

    "Flesh eating is unprovoked murder."

    To the point, and by a very highly regarded man.

  34. #34
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    fab quotes...love reading them. I think i have some on my computer at home - will have a look later and post some

  35. #35
    phact0rri
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    "He is a heavy eater of beef. Methinks it doth harm to his wit."
    -From the 12th Night, William Shakespeare

    "May all that have life be delivered from suffering."
    -Buddha

  36. #36
    Tofurky Addict KariBerry's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Paul McCartney said: "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."

  37. #37
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    "I've always accepted that Man's greatest mistake is trying to turn himself into a carnivore, contrary to natural law." (Donald Watson, founder of The Vegan Society)

    Since humans aren't known to try to turn themselves into meat eaters (who only eat meat, like true carnivores do), I'm sure Watson meant 'carnivore' in the same way as we use the term "meat eater" to day, about humans: people living on a diet that includes meat.
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    I am an atheist, but this is my very own quote: "If there is a God, humans are his worst creation."

    Another quote, which is not mine, is "If you love animals called pets, why do you eat animals called dinner?" Farm Sanctuary

    My older sister's quote: "If there are no animals in heaven, then I don't want to go to heaven." She is a religious and spiritual person. She is not vegan, but is a vegeterian.
    All about the animals, Lucia

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    Korn: Donald Watson is the Man!

    Also, today's " the Man" in my opinion is Dr. Neal Bernard, President of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Check out the website. Vegan physicians started this animals rights group. Plus they have a "recipe of the week". www.pcrm.org
    Last edited by VeganLu; Jan 16th, 2010 at 01:40 PM. Reason: Found out Donald Watson is still alive!
    All about the animals, Lucia

  40. #40
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    ...and here's a quote from dr. Bernard:

    "The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined."

    More doctor-quotes about the health aspect of eating meat:

    "All red meat contains saturated fat. There is no such thing as truly lean meat. Trimming away the edge ring of fat around a steak really does not lower the fat content significantly. People who have red meat (trimmed or untrimmed) as a regular feature of their diets suffer in far greater numbers from heart attacks and strokes." (Michael Klaper, M.D)

    "I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives." (Dean Ornish, MD)

    "If you step back and look at the data, the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero."
    (Walter Willett, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, director of a study that found a close correlation between red meat consumption and colon cancer.)

    "We are basically a vegetarian species and should be eating a wide variety of plant food and minimizing our intake of animal foods.... "Once people start introducing animal products into their diet, that's when the mischief starts."" (T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D)

    The following quotes may not be as well known (although those who came up with these statements are):
    "People get offended by animal rights campaigns. It’s ludicrous. It’s not as bad as mass animal death in a factory." (Richard Gere)

    "If you could see or feel the suffering you wouldn't think twice. Give back life. Don't eat meat." (Kim Basinger)
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

  41. #41
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Albert Schweitzer wasn't only a Nobel Prize winner, he was a doctor too, so here's another "doctor quote": "Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

  42. #42
    Full of beans beanstew's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and 'animals' is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them — without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.
    Carl Sagan/Dr. Ann Druyan
    Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer "extortion". The "X" makes it sound cool.

  43. #43

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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    [QUOTE=beanstew;642982: "They are just too much like us." Carl Sagan/Dr. Ann Druyan[/QUOTE]

    I am not a new vegan, but the fact that many animals are much like us is so evident just by watching them. Thanks for the above quote. My heart felt good to read it. But my heart went cold soon after, and I immediately thought to myself "No wonder I like animals better than people. I like animals better than nice people too". Now don't you guys go after me for saying that, because no matter what you say to me, I will not change my mind.

    I have an older sister who has 4 daughters and 7 grandchildren. I have no children. She believes in God, but I don't. She always says: "If there are no animals in heaven, then she does not want to go to heaven". She is a vegeterian because she cannot give up cheese. She does not want to see what happens in factory farms, but I must tell you that she has helped so many animals in her life, it is unbelievable. She has many, many companion animals (all different species), and all of them are happy and well cared for. She does not have a lot of money and she owes money to vets all over Queens, New York.
    Last edited by VeganLu; Mar 25th, 2010 at 05:36 PM.
    All about the animals, Lucia

  44. #44
    Full of beans beanstew's Avatar
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    I'm glad you liked the quote VeganLu. There are lots more by Carl Sagan here.
    Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer "extortion". The "X" makes it sound cool.

  45. #45
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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Love the one of George Bernard Shaw
    I write this somewhere else on the forum too but I want to write it again because it is my favorite quote:
    "All beings tremble before violence.
    All fear death.
    All love life.
    See yourself in others.
    Then whom can you hurt?
    What harm can you do?"
    -Buddha

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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    Hopefully Im not double posting these...

    "The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”

    - Jeremy Bentham

    Those who eat the meat of other [living beings] in order to satisfy their own flesh, they are definitely murderers [themselves], since without a consumer [there can be] no killer.

    —Acharya Hemacandra (12th c. Jain ascetic/scholar)
    Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/karen_mather_87/

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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    My absolute favorite quote:

    The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. ~Henry Beston

    This was a quote used in Earthlings I think.

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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    This is not a well known man, but he was an amazing mathematician, one of the best mathematician to ever exist. Though his life was not lived as a vegan until later on, he encourages us with the idea that it is completely inevitable to extend ethics to animals. I think he was a vegan. How he speaks was notoriously quite cryptic (all through his life), however he was a Pure Mathematician after all.

    Here is the link to an interview.

    Much is said by his wife (also a vegan) because he did not like to speak in interviews, but he assures the readers that they are his beliefs.

    "Tatiana. Does this mean that now you will eat animals?
    Israel No, I will not.
    Tatiana But why? Why would you not eat animals now?
    Israel This has to be and will be built into the rules of Man.
    Tatiana What else can you say about why you are not eating animals?
    Israel There is nothing else to say."
    "VITA What would you like to wish to vegans?
    Israel To remain vegans.
    Tatiana To be an attractive example of a person who knows that he or she is on the right path.
    VITA What would you like to wish to people who are not yet vegans?
    Israel (Smiling) Humanity."

    "VITA Is the animal rights movement noticeable in the world?
    Israel This movement is unavoidable. I am an optimist: in the battle between good and bad, the good cannot lose."
    "VITA Did vegetarianism (veganism) help you solve problems?
    Israel Yes.
    Tatiana I am appending an abstract from an article about Israel in New York Times in 2003: " 'I think I am able to work as well as I could 40 or 50 years ago', said Dr. Gelfand who attributes this productivity, in part, to a strict vegetarian diet, which he adopted along with his wife Tatiana, a decade ago.""

    As you can see his quotes are not exactly straightforward.. But they are also powerful in that they are morally uncompromising, and optimistic. Lastly they come from the greatest or second greatest mind in mathematics in the last few centuries (possibly in existence). I also added the final quote because he attributes being able to work well into his 90s to veganism.

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    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    This is my favorite from Tolstoy. Though he used the term "people", I think it applies to any sentient being:

    "We don't love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we have done them."

    This is just so true regarding to people. And personally, regarding to animals, when I was still reflecting about going vegan I realised that I was supposed to love them. But when I actually stopped eating them, and therefore started to think that I was doing something good for them, was when my love for them really became something I feel, instead of just something I reasoned

  50. #50

    Default Re: For new vegans: famous quotes

    This is quoted by Carol J. Adams at the start of her book The Pornography of Meat - unfortunately, I can't remember whom she is quoting, but it's a good'un nonetheless:

    "Meat is like pornography: before it was someone's fun, it was someone's life."
    Last edited by Wraithling; Oct 30th, 2012 at 03:29 PM. Reason: Whoops - clicked 'send' once too often
    "Eventually, I realised that the reason I was so angry was because I want people in the world to be well." - Ian MacKaye

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