Immanuel Kant
Philosopher
"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
Animal quotes
Animal
6.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Novelist, Philosopher
"Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love."
Sigmund Freud
Neurologist, Psychoanalyst
"I prefer the company of animals more than the company of humans. Certainly, a wild animal is cruel. But to be merciless is the privilege of civilized humans."
Voltaire
Philosopher, Writer
"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."
George Washington Carver
Agricultural Scientist, Inventor
"My prayers seem to be more of an attitude than anything else. I indulge in very little lip service, but ask the Great Creator silently, daily, and often many times a day, to permit me to speak to Him through the three great Kingdoms of the world which He has created - the animal, mineral, and vegetable Kingdoms - to understand their relations to each other, and our relations to them and to the Great God who made all of us. I ask Him daily and often momently to give me wisdom, understanding, and bodily strength to do His will; hence I am asking and receiving all the time."
Quote collection
Animal quotes (page 1 of 316)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"People who have no hold over their process of thinking are likely to be ruined by liberty of thought. If thought is immature, liberty of thought becomes a method of converting men into animals."
Read quote
323 likes
"People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel."
Read quote
311 likes
"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."
Read quote
276 likes
"Without enough wilderness America will change. Democracy, with its myriad personalities and increasing sophistication, must be fibred and vitalized by regular contact with outdoor growths - animals, trees, sun warmth and free skies - or it will dwindle and pale."
Read quote
266 likes
"It is true that God is even in the tiger, but we must not go and face the animal. So it is true that God dwells even in the most wicked, but it is not meet that we should associate with the wicked."
Read quote
210 likes
"We are all here on this planet, as it were, as tourists. None of us can live here forever. The longest we might live is a hundred years. So while we are here we should try to have a good heart and to make something positive and useful of our lives. Whether we live just a few years or a whole century, it would be truly regrettable and sad if we were to spend that time aggravating the problems that afflict other people, animals, and the environment. The most important things is to be a good human being."
Read quote
202 likes
"The soul of man is divided into three parts, intelligence, reason, and passion. Intelligence and passion are possessed by other animals, but reason by man alone."
Read quote
194 likes
"Time spent with cats is never wasted."
Read quote
191 likes
"Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
Read quote
185 likes
"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd, I stand and look at them long and long."
Read quote
178 likes
"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."
Read quote
168 likes
"You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."
Read quote
164 likes
"The great and amorous sky curved over the earth, and lay upon her as a pure lover. The rain, the humid flux descending from heaven for both man and animal, for both thick and strong, germinated the wheat, swelled the furrows with fecund mud and brought forth the buds in the orchards. And it is I who empowered these moist espousals, I the great Aphrodite."
Read quote
162 likes
"Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so."
Read quote
161 likes
"We Indians do not teach that there is only one god. We know that everything has power, including the most inanimate, inconsequential things. Stones have power. A blade of grass has power. Trees and clouds and all our relatives in the insect and animal world have power. We believe we must respect that power by acknowledging it's presence. By honoring the power of the spirits in that way, it becomes our power as well. It protects us."
Read quote
158 likes
"Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul."
Read quote
150 likes
"The more I see of men, the better I like my dog."
Read quote
146 likes
"Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved."
Read quote
141 likes
"I'd like to be a jellyfish, 'cause jellyfish don't pay rent."
Read quote
139 likes
"The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man's."
Read quote
134 likes