“
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 seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.
”
”
Pythagoras
“
We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves.
”
”
César Chávez
“
To become vegetarian is to step towards the stream which leads to nirvana.
”
”
Gautama Buddha
“
Often, vegan advocates assume that a person's defensiveness is the result of selfishness or apathy, when in fact it is much more likely the result of systematic and intensive social conditioning.
”
”
Melanie Joy (Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism)
“
The problem with labels is that they lead to stereotypes and stereotypes lead to generalizations and generalizations lead to assumptions and assumptions lead back to stereotypes. It’s a vicious cycle, and after you go around and around a bunch of times you end up believing that all vegans only eat cabbage and all gay people love musicals.
”
”
Ellen DeGeneres
“
Most people would say they love animals, but the reality is, if your using animals for food, clothing, or entertainment, you're only considering the lives of certain animals, typically those of cats and dogs.
”
”
Melisser Elliott (The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life: Cruelty-Free Crafts, Recipes, Beauty Secrets and More)
“
Drama does not just walk into our lives. Either we create it, invite it, or associate with it.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Remains To Be Seen)
“
You settle for less, you get less.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Remains To Be Seen)
“
If you eat animals, you don't love animals; you love to eat them." - Andrew Kirschner, Ed.D.
”
”
Andrew Kirschner
“
Most people just want to be left in peace to eat their bacon, not realising that there is no peace behind bacon.
”
”
Mango Wodzak (Destination Eden)
“
The vegan lifestyle is a compassionate way to live that supports life, supports fairness and equality, and promotes freedom.
”
”
Robert Cheeke (Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness)
“
Everyone's life changes when they meet their Obi-Wan & their Yoda, or their Morpheus & their Oracle; those who help remove the veil.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates
“
The path of the norm is the path of least resistance; it is the route we take when we're on auto-pilot and don't even realize we're following a course of action that we haven't consciously chosen. Most people who eat meat have no idea that they're behaving in accordance with the tenets of a system that has defined many of their values, preferences, and behaviors. What they call 'free choice' is, in fact, the result of a narrowly obstructed set of options that have been chosen for them. They don't realize, for instance, that they have been taught to value human life so far above certain forms of nonhuman life that it seems appropriate for their taste preferences to supersede other species' preference for survival.
”
”
Melanie Joy (Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism)
“
I'm a vegetarian because I love myself, I love life and I love planet Earth.
”
”
Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr.
“
Many people know that animals around the world are treated badly, yet they turn their minds away. To be vegan means to care deeply about how our choices help or harm animals, how we create peace or suffering in the world. Our choices are powerful. Vegan is love.
”
”
Ruby Roth (Vegan Is Love: Having Heart and Taking Action)
“
This burger is so good, it’s stupid,” I burst out. “I thought California was supposed to be full of vegans sprinkling sprouts on everything.”
“That’s at the restaurant across the street. You detox there, you come here when you want real food.”
“I love you,” I said, stroking my burger like a kitten.
“Me or the cheeseburger?”
“I can no longer separate the two.
”
”
Alice Clayton (Screwdrivered (Cocktail, #3))
“
Some people's glasses are half full. I'm the one drinking them.
Some people have forgotten that Pluto is still a planet. I still remember my childhood.
Some people are vegans. I have common sense.
Some people call me Maurice. Some people call me the Gangsta of Love.
Some people just want to live...but me, I'm the one still alive.
”
”
Dave Matthes (Sleepeth Not, the Bastard)
“
The path to healthy body, and happy soul is based upon self-study, mindfulness, love and awareness.
Understanding our relationship to eating cultivates a lot of insights and help us start living our highest potential.
”
”
Nataša Pantović (Mindful Eating with delicious raw vegan recipes (AoL Mindfulness, #3))
“
There is no particular merit in being nice to one's fellow man... We can never establish with certainty what part of our relations with others is a result of our emotions - love apathy, charity of malice - and what part is predetermines by the constant power play among individuals.
True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buries from view), consists of attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental débâcle, a débâcle so fundamental all others stem from it.
”
”
Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)
“
Once she'd loved my filet mignon, my carnivore inklings,
but now she was a vegan princess,
living off of beans.
She'd given up the cheese and bacon, sworn off Burger
King, and when I
wouldn't do the same
she gave me back my ring.
I stood there by the romaine lettuce,
feeling my heart
pine.
Wishing that this meatless beauty
still would be all mine.
She turned around
to go to checkout,
fifteen items or less.
And I knew this was the last go-round,
so this is what I said. ...
"Don't you ever give me no rotten tomato, 'cause all I ever wanted was your sweet
potato.
”
”
Sarah Dessen (This Lullaby)
“
Non-injury to all living beings is the only religion.” (first truth of Jainism) “In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self, and should therefore refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would appear undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves.” “This is the quintessence of wisdom; not to kill anything. All breathing, existing, living sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure unchangeable Law. Therefore, cease to injure living things.” “All living things love their life, desire pleasure and do not like pain; they dislike any injury to themselves; everybody is desirous of life and to every being, his life is very dear.”
Yogashastra (Jain Scripture) (c. 500 BCE)
”
”
Anonymous
“
We are the collateral damage of carnism; we pay for it with our health, our environment, and our taxes - $7.64 billion a year, to be exact.
”
”
Melanie Joy (Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism)
“
While most people love certain species to pieces (e.g. cats and dogs), others are more loved in pieces (e.g. cows and pigs)
”
”
Mango Wodzak (The Eden Fruitarian Guidebook)
“
Be selective in your battles...
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Remains To Be Seen)
“
Raw Living: Picking blackberries, beneath late afternoon sun; a sunset reminiscent of watermelon sangria, as the scent of honeysuckle accosts me and the ducks waddle into the lake. Thanking Mama Nature for her abundance. Loving this candied-sweet southern life.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates
“
All children should be encouraged to love and respect animals.. Not turn a blind eye to their suffering and stab forks into their dead bodies..
”
”
Mango Wodzak
“
Oh how I once loved tuna salad / Pork and lobsters, lamp chops too / Till I stopped and looked at dinner / From the dinner's point of view.
”
”
Shel Silverstein
“
Look into their eyes and tell them "I'm sorry, you have to die, but I need to eat". Look into their eyes, and tell them "I know there is an abundance of plant based foods I could eat, but I would still rather eat you". Look into their eyes and tell them "I know I don't NEED to eat you, but I am going to pay someone else to murder you anyway" Look into their eyes and tell them "I'm sorry you lived a short enslaved, abused and tortured life, but I don't care because I am selfish" Look into their eyes and tell them " I love my cat/dog, but your life doesn't matter as much" Go ahead, take a look into their eyes and tell them that!
”
”
Jenn V Keller-Lowe
“
A year later we were in a coffee shop, the kind taking a last stand against Starbucks with its thrift-store chairs, vegan cookies, and over-promising teas with names like Serenity and Inner Peace. I was curled up with a stack of causes, trying to get in a few extra hours of work over the weekend, and Andrew sat with one hand gripping his mug, his nose in The New York Times; the two of us a parody of the yuppie couple of the new millennium. We sat silently that way, though there wasn't silence at all. On top of the typical coffee-shop sounds - the whir of an expresso machine, the click of the cash register, the bell above the door - Andrew was making his noises, an occasional snort at something he read in the paper, the jangle of his keys in his pocket, a sniffle since he was getting over a cold, a clearing of his throat. And as we sat there, all I could do was listen to those Andrew-specific noises, the rhythm of his breath, the in-out in-out, its low whistle. Snort. Jangle. Sniffle. Clear.
Hypnotized. I wanted to buy his soundtrack.
This must be what love is, I thought. Not wanting his noises to ever stop.
”
”
Julie Buxbaum (The Opposite of Love)
“
We are all children that need nurturing, love and care. So give your inner child that nurturing and love, give yourself back the joy of preparing healthy and nutritious meals, joy of experiencing food without TV, reading, working, rush.
”
”
Nataša Pantović (Mindful Eating with delicious raw vegan recipes (AoL Mindfulness, #3))
“
There was a young lady called Peaches,
who simply loved animals to pieces.
She ate pigs and sheep,
and for cows she would weep,
when baked in a sauce of rich greases.
”
”
Mango Wodzak (The Eden Fruitarian Guidebook)
“
Vegan is just pure love. Love for animals, love for the planet, and love for yourself.
”
”
Mischa Temaul
“
No one is born with equality. We all come here with varying degrees of opportunities, qualities, strengths, weaknesses, IQ, etc.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Remains To Be Seen)
“
Understand: I don't ever want to be equal to any other being. I always want to be greater...in all things, in all circumstances.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Remains To Be Seen)
“
When my son speaks of playing sports, I've always told him: playing on the team is great, but aspire to be the guy who owns the team. I've always told my son: most of the guys on the team will end up bankrupt with bum knees, but not the guy who owns that franchise.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates
“
A fascinating example of this idea is that farmers love their animals and want only the best for them, while still profiting from sending them to a slaughterhouse to be killed. It is undeniably a contradiction to claim to love someone who you intend to kill for money.
”
”
Ed Winters (This is Vegan Propaganda (and Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You))
“
To that which you tame, you owe your life.
”
”
Stacey O'Brien (Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl)
“
When you stop eating meat, you feel light from inside. When you abstain from inflicting cruelty on animals, you will no longer be an agent of pain.
”
”
Shivanshu K. Srivastava
“
Choose a compassionate frame of mind.
Always choose love. Always be kind.
”
”
Beth Arnold (Always Be Kind)
“
Vegan donuts are for vegans, you absolute walnut.
”
”
Ali Hazelwood (Love on the Brain)
“
I’m not sure what to say about struggle except that it feels like a long, dark tunnel with no light at the end. You never notice until it’s over the ways it has changed you, and there is no going back. We struggled a lot this year. For everyone who picked a fight with life and got the shit kicked out of them: I’m proud of you for surviving.
This year I learned that cities are beautiful from rooftops even when you’re sad and that swimming in rivers while the sun sets in July will make you feel hopeful, no matter what’s going on at home. I found out my best friend is strong enough to swing me over his shoulder like I’m weightless and run down the street while I’m squealing and kicking against his chest. I found out vegan rice milk whipped cream is delicious, especially when it’s licked off the stomach of a boy you love.
This year I kissed too many people with broken hearts and hands like mousetraps. If I could go back and unhurt them I would. If I could go back even farther and never meet them I would do that too. I turned 21. There’s no getting around it. I’m an adult now. Navigating the world has proved harder than I expected. There were times I was reckless. In my struggle to survive I hurt others. Apologies do not make good bandages.
I’m not sure what to say about change except that it reminds me of the Bible story with the lions’ den. But you are not named Daniel and you have not been praying, so God lets the beasts get a few deep, painful swipes at you before the morning comes and you’re pulled into the light, exhausted and cut to shit.
The good news is you survived. The bad news is you’re hurt and no one can heal you but yourself. You just have to find a stiff drink and a clean needle before you bleed out. And then you get up. And start over.
”
”
Clementine von Radics (Mouthful of Forevers)
“
If you are a feminist and are not a vegan, you are ignoring the exploitation of female nonhumans and the commodification of their reproductive processes, as well as the destruction of their relationship with their babies;
If you are an environmentalist and not a vegan, you are ignoring the undeniable fact that animal agriculture is an ecological disaster;
If you embrace nonviolence but are not a vegan, then words of nonviolence come out of your mouth as the products of torture and death go into it;
If you claim to love animals but you are eating them or products made from them, or otherwise consuming them, you see loving as consistent with harming that which you claim to love.
Stop trying to make excuses. There are no good ones to make. Go vegan.
”
”
Gary L. Francione
“
This is the balancing act that vegans face: we either voice our objection and get labelled as extremist, militant, awkward or abnormal, or we stay silent and smile through the image of a cow having their throat cut that passes through our minds as we watch our loved ones bite into beef burgers. We either feel like we are betraying our morals out of fear of causing upset or find ourselves being labelled as preachy, forceful vegan extremists.
”
”
Ed Winters (This Is Vegan Propaganda (& Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You))
“
There is nothing extreme about ethical veganism.
What is extreme is eating decomposing flesh and animal secretions.
What is extreme is that we regard some animals as members of our family while, at the same time, we stick forks into the corpses of other animals.
What is extreme is thinking that it is morally acceptable to inflict suffering and death on other sentient creatures simply because we enjoy the taste of animal products or because we like the look of clothes made from animals.
What is extreme is that we say that we recognize that “unnecessary” suffering and death cannot be morally justified and then we proceed to engage in exploitation on a daily basis that is completely unnecessary.
What is extreme is pretending to embrace peace while we make violence, suffering, torture and death a daily part of our lives.
What is extreme is that we excoriate people like Michael Vick, Mary Bale and Sarah Palin as villains while we continue to eat, use, and consume animal products.
What is extreme is that we say that we care about animals and that we believe that they are members of the moral community, but we sponsor, support, encourage and promote “happy” meat/dairy labeling schemes. (see 1, 2, 3)
What is extreme is not eating flesh but continuing to consume dairy when there is absolutely no rational distinction between meat and dairy (or other animal products). There is as much suffering and death in dairy, eggs, etc., as there is in meat.
What is extreme is that we are consuming a diet that is causing disease and resulting in ecological disaster.
What is extreme is that we encourage our children to love animals at the same time that we teach them those that they love can also be those whom they harm. We teach our children that love is consistent with commodification. That is truly extreme—and very sad.
What is extreme is the fantasy that we will ever find our moral compass with respect to animals as long as they are on our plates and our tables, on our backs, and on our feet.
No, ethical veganism is not extreme. But there are many other things that we do not even pay attention to that are extreme.
If you are not vegan, go vegan. It’s easy; it’s better for your health and for the planet. But, most important, it’s the morally right thing to do.
”
”
Gary L. Francione
“
Everyone has it within their heart to be vegan, but each time they eat anything from an animal they deny that this is so, they deny that they have enough love in their hearts to show these animals mercy and free them from our tyranny.
This is a blatant lie that they keep telling themselves, time and time again. They would rather argue that they don't care about animals and find excuses to justify and continue harming them, than acknowledge any 'sissy' ability they might have to feel compassion for them.
What they don't understand is, that they hurt themselves by not acknowledging this latent ability within their hearts though, and with this they deny themselves love too, for what is given out always comes back multifold.
”
”
Mango Wodzak
“
For every ten tuna, sharks, and other large predatory fish that were in our oceans fifty to a hundred years ago, only one is left.
”
”
Jonathan Safran Foer (Eating Animals)
“
L-EVELS
O-F
V-ARYING
E-MOTIONS
BEING IN LOVE IS ALWAYS A
COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP!
”
”
Qwana Reynolds-Frasier (Friend In Your Pocket Conversations Session One)
“
Who are we to say dogs and cats have more rights than cows and pigs. They’re all conscious. They feel the same. They hurt the same. God help us understand!
”
”
Izey Victoria Odiase (99 Quotes and Affirmations For Self-Love & Personal Development)
“
Do your thing, without harming anything.
”
”
Fakeer Ishavardas
“
It requires 20 times more land to produce a gram of protein from cows or sheep than it does to produce it from pulses such as chickpeas or soybeans.
”
”
Henry Mance (How to Love Animals: In a Human-Shaped World)
“
Animals help you feel deeper, they open your heart to its true potential. They heal you, and love you unconditionally.
”
”
Angie karan
“
What kind of careless, inconsiderate boob steals the single available option from a starving, needy vegan?
”
”
Ali Hazelwood (Love on the Brain)
“
I love her nagging us because we have only vegan food in the house and she’s “sick of competing with the cats for a meager slice of chicken breast!
”
”
Ali Hazelwood (Love on the Brain)
“
To feel divinity in Creator's entire creations.
To love and care all kinds of species.
To live and let live.
Here lies the true Offering to God.
”
”
RESHMA CHEKNATH UMESH
“
Some people do not really hate junk food. They merely love themselves a lot.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
An animal running with all its might while being hunted is a big proof that they love their precious life. Save lives. Avoid being a contributor in taking lives.
”
”
RESHMA CHEKNATH UMESH
“
The reason why many people remain on the bottom is because they play to 'not lose', as opposed to playing to win at all costs.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Remains To Be Seen)
“
Fear told me that no one would ever love me the way I loved them, so I was better off alone.
”
”
Dr. Harper (I'm a Therapist, and My Patient is a Vegan Terrorist: 6 Deadly Social Media Influencers (Dr. Harper Therapy, #3))
“
Spending time with LIVE goats and chickens makes you feel calm. It furnishes more energy to your body, than their dead body does. Love them frolicking on pasture than on your platter.
- Reshma Cheknath Umesh-
”
”
RESHMA CHEKNATH UMESH
“
Look into their eyes and tell them "I'm sorry, you have to die, but I need to eat."
Look into their eyes, and tell them "I know there is an abundance of plant based foods I could eat, but I would still rather eat you."
Look into their eyes and tell them "I know I don't NEED to eat you, but I am going to pay someone else to murder you anyway."
Look into their eyes and tell them "I'm sorry you lived a short enslaved, abused and tortured life, but I don't care because I am selfish."
Look into their eyes and tell them "I love my cat/dog, but your life doesn't matter as much."
Go ahead, take a look into their eyes and tell them that!
”
”
Jenn V Keller-Lowe
“
When I look into the eyes of our animal friends, I feel as if it’s the universe itself looking back at me, a profoundly beautiful, deep, and knowing presence. I sense this universal spirit is waiting to see how I will treat them, judging my worthiness of the gift of their companionship. I feel their beauty and purity in the very depths of my soul, and in the process of caring for them and trying to protect them from harm, my heart fills with a love that feels infinite…
”
”
Rai Aren
“
Love and compassion for all sentient beings, (human and non human alike) are a necessity. They are the true drivers that make us human. Without them we cannot extend our humanity, our moral progress, to make our world a better place for ALL.
”
”
Angie karan
“
Every man forms, as it were, his god from his own character; to the divinity of one of simple habits, no offering would be more acceptable than the happiness of his creatures. He would be incapable of hating or persecuting others for the love of God.
”
”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (A vindication of natural diet: Being one in a series of notes to Queen Mab (a philosophical poem))
“
When weight loss is conflated with veganism, it falls into dangerous area of body shaming and misogyny. Mainstream media loves to make women feel inferior when it comes to their bodies and unfortunately veganism has recently become another weapon and this sexist war on our society. Thin white women are used to sell veganism as a quick fix to a more desirable body at the expense of anyone who doesn't fit the cookie cutter idea of female perfection. In addition, these images and messages work to oppress women of colour and people living with disabilities. Selling veganism as anything other than caring for animals often leads to oppression, plain and simple. We need to resist this approach to promoting veganism by drawing the fight back to animals. Every single time.
”
”
Sean O'Callaghan (Fat, Gay Vegan - Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t)
“
Animal welfare - yes. Animal rights - don't make me laugh. I'm not an animals rights activist. I certainly do not love animals. In fact, I secretly mistrust all four-legged / furry / two-winged / feathered / shelled ar scaly brothers and sisters. If I were them, I would by now be plotting ultimate revenge on a scale previously unknown to man. ... I stick to a vegan diet only for reasons of self-preservertion. Call it insurance. When the time of the great animal uprising comes, I may have a small chance of escaping ...
”
”
Sharon Dodua Otoo (the things i am thinking while smiling politely …)
“
Standing by the dirt road, not unlike the road Lan had once stood on nearly forty years earlier, an M-16 pointed at her nose as she held you, I wait until my grandpa’s voice, this retired tutor, vegan, and marijuana grower, this lover of maps and Camus, finishes his last words to his first love, then close the laptop.
”
”
Ocean Vuong (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous)
“
What about all the poor brothers and sisters across the city and the shit they had to deal with? Fuck, what about all the poor brothers and sisters in Syria for that matter? They sure had their hands full. What do you even call depression in a refugee camp? Depression felt as much a luxury as veganism and fair trade coffee.
”
”
Zack McDermott (Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother's Love)
“
Let's use our exclusion and invisibility as a power to create impermeable spaces for ourselves, unburdened by the ridiculous and biased premises of the dominant class. Let's use our erasure from this rotten-to-the-core Western notion of humanity to build up a different “new world,” one that is not defined in terms of dichotomies or hierarchies or emotional death—but centered on love: one in which we accept ambiguity and difference, grounded in an expansive, limitless “we.” We are at the center of a radical shift taking place in pro-animal discourse precisely because, upon self-reflection, we can see that our struggle is their struggle. I don't mean this symbolically. I mean this literally.
”
”
Aph Ko (Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters)
“
Something switches in mee in this vegan mayonnaise-filled moment. All my patience is gone. I'm in a vegan dive bar, smelling beer I don't care to drink with basketball and football games I don't care to watch blaring from the excessive amount of TVs around me. I'm sitting on a bar stool with uneven legs opposite of a man I no longer love. I am numb. I am done. Look, I just am.
”
”
Jennette McCurdy (I'm Glad My Mom Died)
“
If I had three lives, I’d marry you in two.
And the other? That life over there
at Starbucks, sitting alone, writing — a memoir,
maybe a novel or this poem. No kids, probably,
a small apartment with a view of the river,
and books — lots of books and time to read.
Friends to laugh with; a man sometimes,
for a weekend, to remember what skin feels like
when it’s alive. I’m thinner in that life, vegan,
practice yoga. I go to art films, farmers markets,
drink martinis in swingy skirts and big jewelry.
I vacation on the Maine coast and wear a flannel shirt
weekend guy left behind, loving the smell of sweat
and aftershave more than I do him. I walk the beach
at sunrise, find perfect shell spirals and study pockmarks
water makes in sand. And I wonder sometimes
if I’ll ever find you.
”
”
Sarah Russell
“
There’s no shortage of problems with the human race, yet vegans decide to prioritize animals over humanity. Others prioritize exotic minorities over everything else. People need to get their priorities straight. Focus on what’s important, not on what you are personally, subjectively into. You can’t turn humanity’s future into your love of pets, or your gender confusion, or whatever. It’s not about you. It’s about humanity.
”
”
David Sinclair (Without the Mob, There Is No Circus)
“
This touches on the issue of how vegans should handle the caveman argument. Many of us are tempted to strain credulity and torture the evidence to ‘prove’ humans are ‘naturally’ vegan. This is a trap, and one into which carnists (especially paleo-dieters) would love us to fall; the evidence isn’t on our side. There’s no doubt that hominids ate meat.... The argument for veganism has always been primarily ethical, and ought to remain that way. It’s based on a concern for the future, not an obsession about the past.
”
”
Jack Norris
“
We should not be surprised that more and more people feel comfortable about consuming animal products. After all, they are being assured by the “experts” that suffering is being decreased and they can buy “happy” meat, “free-range” eggs, etc.. These products even come with labels approved of by animal organizations. The animal welfare movement is actually encouraging the “compassionate” consumption of animal products.
Animal welfare reforms do very little to increase the protection given to animal interests because of the economics involved: animals are property. They are things that have no intrinsic or moral value. This means that welfare standards, whether for animals used as foods, in experiments, or for any other purpose, will be low and linked to the level of welfare needed to exploit the animal in an economically efficient way for the particular purpose. Put simply, we generally protect animal interests only to the extent we get an economic benefit from doing so. The concept of “unnecessary” suffering is understood as that level of suffering that will frustrate the particular use. And that can be a great deal of suffering.
Killing Animals and Making Animals Suffer | Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach
”
”
Gary L. Francione
“
If she was gone when I got back, I’d lose my fucking mind.
She’d said she’d stay, and she usually did what she said she would. But this thing had her shaken, and I couldn’t wait forty-eight hours to run after her if she took off on me again. I’d go insane.
My mind was exhausted. I hadn’t slept last night. I didn’t fully absorb everything she’d said in the kitchen and some of it began to catch up to me now.
I didn’t come here to tell you so you could decide whether you want to date me. That’s not even on the table.
If Kristen thought I was going to let her go, she was fucking nuts. Not now that I knew she loved me. Not ever.
I finally understood the kind of love that made men give up everything. The kind that made someone change religions or go vegan or move to the other side of the world to be with the woman they loved. If someone had told me six months ago that I’d choose a woman who couldn’t have kids, I’d have called him crazy. But being with her wasn’t even something I had to think about. I did want kids. But I wanted her first. Everything else was just everything else.
Sure, a part of me grieved a life I knew I wouldn’t have now. Kids that I’d never meet, a future different from the one I’d spent the last few years wanting. But I processed it like I’d been the one who just got a diagnosis. Because in a way, I had. This thing didn’t feel like her problem. It felt like our problem, to figure out together. It was as much mine as it was hers.
”
”
Abby Jimenez (The Friend Zone (The Friend Zone, #1))
“
I go to one of my favorite Instagram profiles, the.korean.vegan, and I watch her last video, in which she makes peach-topped tteok. The Korean vegan, Joanne, cooks while talking about various things in her life. As she splits open a peach, she explains why she gave up meat. As she adds lemon juice, brown sugar, nutmeg, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, almond extract, maple syrup, then vegan butter and vegan milk and sifted almond and rice flour, she talks about how she worried about whitewashing her diet, about denying herself a fundamental part of her culture, and then about how others don't see her as authentically Korean since she is a vegan. I watch other videos by Joanne, soothed by her voice into feeling human myself, and into craving the experiences of love she talks of and the food she cooks as she does.
I go to another profile, and watch a person's hands delicately handle little knots of shirataki noodles and wash them in cold water, before placing them in a clear oden soup that is already filled with stock-boiled eggs, daikon, and pure white triangles of hanpen. Next, they place a cube of rice cake in a little deep-fried tofu pouch, and seal the pouch with a toothpick so it looks like a tiny drawstring bag; they place the bag in with the other ingredients. "Every winter my mum made this dish for me," a voice says over the video, "just like how every winter my grandma made it for my mum when she was a child." The person in the video is half Japanese like me, and her name is Mei; she appears on the screen, rosy cheeked, chopsticks in her hand, and sits down with her dish and eats it, facing the camera.
Food means so much in Japan. Soya beans thrown out of temples in February to tempt out demons before the coming of spring bring the eater prosperity and luck; sushi rolls eaten facing a specific direction decided each year bring luck and fortune to the eater; soba noodles consumed at New Year help time progress, connecting one year to the next; when the noodles snap, the eater can move on from bad events from the last year. In China too, long noodles consumed at New Year grant the eater a long life. In Korea, when rice-cake soup is eaten at New Year, every Korean ages a year, together, in unison. All these things feel crucial to East Asian identity, no matter which country you are from.
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Claire Kohda (Woman, Eating)
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The plea for ethical veganism, which rejects the treatment of birds and other animals as a food source or other commodity, is sometimes mistaken as a plea for dietary purity and elitism, as if formalistic food exercises and barren piety were the point of the desire to get the slaughterhouse out of one’s kitchen and one’s system. Abstractions such as 'vegetarianism' and 'veganism' mask the experiential and philosophical roots of a plant-based diet. They make the realities of 'food' animal production and consumption seem abstract and trivial, mere matters of ideological preference and consequence, or of individual taste, like selecting a shirt, or hair color.
However, the decision that has led millions of people to stop eating other animals is not rooted in arid adherence to diet or dogma, but in the desire to eliminate the kinds of experiences that using animals for food confers upon beings with feelings. The philosophic vegetarian believes with Isaac Bashevis Singer that even if God or Nature sides with the killers, one is obliged to protest. The human commitment to harmony, justice, peace, and love is ironic as long as we continue to support the suffering and shame of the slaughterhouse and its satellite operations.
Vegetarians do not eat animals, but, according to the traditional use of the term, they may choose to consume dairy products and eggs, in which case they are called lacto-ovo (milk and egg) vegetarians. In reality, the distinction between meat on the one hand and dairy products and eggs on the other is moot, as the production of milk and eggs involves as much cruelty and killing as meat production does: surplus cockerels and calves, as well as spent hens and cows, have been slaughtered, bludgeoned, drowned, ditched, and buried alive through the ages. Spent commercial dairy cows and laying hens endure agonizing days of pre-slaughter starvation and long trips to the slaughterhouse because of their low market value.
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Karen Davis (Prisoned Chickens Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry)
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Christian Faith
For me, being a Christian is all about true love. The Gospel of John instructs us, “Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” I believe that first we need to love ourselves, even when we are told that we do not deserve love. Then we need to love others, especially those who have not been treated with love. And of course, we need to love Jesus. Love for Jesus can be the foundation for living a good life, a life full of compassion and joy. Loving Jesus is where I believe a Christian life starts, because that love spreads all around, to people, animals, and the world.
Animal Rights
During my life so far, animals have brought me joy and comfort when I thought that I would never find happiness. My bunny Neon taught me so much about unconditional love. This experience showed me that animals have souls deserving of love just as much as humans, and they can be some of the purest examples of God’s love on Earth. I believe we can all show animals the compassion and love they deserve by choosing products that are fur-free and cruelty-free and by eating a vegan diet. Even people who aren’t prepared to commit to a vegan lifestyle can make thoughtful everyday choices that reduce needless cruelty against animals.
Human Rights
I have myself been a victim of abuse, so I know how hopeless life can seem to those in dark situations. However, I also know how much of a difference a small ray of light can make. My goal in life now is to shine that ray of light onto as many people in need as possible. As an advocate for human rights, I aim to raise awareness and help others who are suffering. From volunteering for organizations, to simply looking out for a neighbor or friend, we can all make a difference in helping others. Human rights of freedom and safety belong to each of us, and we all have a responsibility to support people who are the most vulnerable.
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Shenita Etwaroo
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Those who are willing to work for change, and make changes, too often do so only for the sake of their own liberation, without much thought to the oppression of others—especially other species. Feminists lobby against sex wage discrepancies, gays fight homophobic laws, and the physically challenged demand greater access—each fighting for injustices that affect their lives, and/or the lives of their loved ones. Yet these dedicated activists usually fail to make even a slight change in their consumer choices for the sake of other much more egregiously oppressed and exploited individuals. While it is important to fight for one’s own liberation, it is counterproductive (not to mention selfish and small minded) to fight for one’s own liberation while willfully continuing to oppress others who are yet lower on the rungs of hierarchy. While fighting for liberation, it makes no sense for feminists to trample on gays, for gays to trample on the physically challenged, or for the physically challenged to trample on feminists. It also makes no sense for any of these social justice activists to willfully exploit factory farmed animals. Can we not at least avoid exploiting and dominating others while working for our personal liberation? Those who seek greater justice—whatever their cause—must make choices that diminish the cruel exploitation of others. As a matter of consistency and solidarity, social justice activists must reject dairy products, eggs, and flesh.
There is no other industry as cruel and oppressive as factory farming. With regard to numbers affected, extent and length of suffering, and numbers of premature deaths, no other industry can even approach factory farming. Billions of individuals are exploited from genetically engineered birth, through excruciating confinement, to conveyor belt dismemberment. Consequently, there is no industry more appropriate for social justice activists to boycott. Even if we aren’t prepared to take a public stand, or take on another cause, we must at least make a private commitment on behalf of cows, pigs, and hens by leaving animal products on the shelf at the grocery store.
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Lisa Kemmerer (Speaking Up for Animals: An Anthology of Women's Voices)
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THIS IS MY ABC BOOK of people God loves. We’ll start with . . . A: God loves Adorable people. God loves those who are Affable and Affectionate. God loves Ambulance drivers, Artists, Accordion players, Astronauts, Airplane pilots, and Acrobats. God loves African Americans, the Amish, Anglicans, and Animal husbandry workers. God loves Animal-rights Activists, Astrologers, Adulterers, Addicts, Atheists, and Abortionists. B: God loves Babies. God loves Bible readers. God loves Baptists and Barbershop quartets . . . Boys and Boy Band members . . . Blondes, Brunettes, and old ladies with Blue hair. He loves the Bedraggled, the Beat up, and the Burnt out . . . the Bullied and the Bullies . . . people who are Brave, Busy, Bossy, Bitter, Boastful, Bored, and Boorish. God loves all the Blue men in the Blue Man Group. C: God loves Crystal meth junkies, D: Drag queens, E: and Elvis impersonators. F: God loves the Faithful and the Faithless, the Fearful and the Fearless. He loves people from Fiji, Finland, and France; people who Fight for Freedom, their Friends, and their right to party; and God loves people who sound like Fat Albert . . . “Hey, hey, hey!” G: God loves Greedy Guatemalan Gynecologists. H: God loves Homosexuals, and people who are Homophobic, and all the Homo sapiens in between. I: God loves IRS auditors. J: God loves late-night talk-show hosts named Jimmy (Fallon or Kimmel), people who eat Jim sausages (Dean or Slim), people who love Jams (hip-hop or strawberry), singers named Justin (Timberlake or Bieber), and people who aren’t ready for this Jelly (Beyoncé’s or grape). K: God loves Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye Kardashian. (Please don’t tell him I said that.) L: God loves people in Laos and people who are feeling Lousy. God loves people who are Ludicrous, and God loves Ludacris. God loves Ladies, and God loves Lady Gaga. M: God loves Ministers, Missionaries, and Meter maids; people who are Malicious, Meticulous, Mischievous, and Mysterious; people who collect Marbles and people who have lost their Marbles . . . and Miley Cyrus. N: God loves Ninjas, Nudists, and Nose pickers, O: Obstetricians, Orthodontists, Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, and Overweight Obituary writers, P: Pimps, Pornographers, and Pedophiles, Q: the Queen of England, the members of the band Queen, and Queen Latifah. R: God loves the people of Rwanda and the Rebels who committed genocide against them. S: God loves Strippers in Stilettos working on the Strip in Sin City; T: it’s not unusual that God loves Tom Jones. U: God loves people from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates; Ukrainians and Uruguayans, the Unemployed and Unemployment inspectors; blind baseball Umpires and shady Used-car salesmen. God loves Ushers, and God loves Usher. V: God loves Vegetarians in Virginia Beach, Vegans in Vietnam, and people who eat lots of Vanilla bean ice cream in Las Vegas. W: The great I AM loves will.i.am. He loves Waitresses who work at Waffle Houses, Weirdos who have gotten lots of Wet Willies, and Weight Watchers who hide Whatchamacallits in their Windbreakers. X: God loves X-ray technicians. Y: God loves You. Z: God loves Zoologists who are preparing for the Zombie apocalypse. God . . . is for the rest of us. And we have the responsibility, the honor, of letting the world know that God is for them, and he’s inviting them into a life-changing relationship with him. So let ’em know.
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Vince Antonucci (God for the Rest of Us: Experience Unbelievable Love, Unlimited Hope, and Uncommon Grace)
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Only love for all beings can save the world.
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Jeffrey A. White
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What if acceptance and compassion were our daily practice and religion?
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Jeffrey A. White
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A MAN ON A CANE STILL STANDS ON HIS OWN TWO FEET!
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Qwana Reynolds-Frasier (Friend In Your Pocket Conversations Session One)
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YOU ARE NOT A FINISHED WORK OF ART
YOU ARE A COMMISSIONED WORK IN PROGRESS
HANGING IN A GALLERY UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
KEEP PUSHING!
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Qwana Reynolds-Frasier (Friend In Your Pocket Conversations Session One)
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Try to be likeable but stay true to your self. There will be times when you have to do or say something at the expense of being popular. If you’ve built up enough goodwill, you’ll get away with it. People understand that difficult decisions have to be made and, if you’ve paid enough into your ‘likeability deposit’, they will hate the decision but not the person making it.
There may be moments in your life when you have to choose between ‘being liked’ and what you really want to do. Imagine your future spouse is a vegan and does not enjoy being with people who eat meat. Could you imagine putting aside your beliefs and feelings, to show support, love and understanding for your partner’s?
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Nigel Cumberland (100 Things Successful People Do: Little Exercises for Successful Living)
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Stop loading up on excess protein. Stop eating diseased, tortured animals that cause inflammation. Stop fearing real carbs that have fed thriving populations for all of civilization. Feast on beautiful, delicious fruits and vegetables. Eat food that looks alive. Eat food that has been grown and made with love.
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Garth Davis, M.D.
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Input quality data, output quality performance.
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Christian Baloga
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Kindness and justice to the most vulnerable and the most innocent — the animals, is an essential part of human virtue. The greatest gift as humans we can give to animals is our empathy, our compassion and our kindness. It causes no cruelty, it protects, it gives only love.
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Angie karan
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He made me promise him I’d never become vegan. That was a simple promise. I love cheese too much.
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Colleen Hoover (It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1))
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Dear Animals,
Loving you wholeheartedly is to realize the truth that the warmth in your love and gratitude is more nutritious to my body and mind than your tortured bodies.
With Love
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RESHMA CHEKNATH UMESH (Dear Reader, by, Julie and other stories)
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Screw the meat paradox. This was the vegetarian paradox- that in cutting out meat, I felt there were more things I wanted to eat, not fewer. Vegetarianism is a presence, not an absence.
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Henry Mance (How to Love Animals: In a Human-Shaped World)
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We don't love animals because they're cute, adorable, we love them and wish them no harm because they are considered as someone, not something. That alone should be enough for us to not exploit, eat, use and abuse and pay with our money to sending them to slaughter.
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Angie karan
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All animals deserve the world, not just our cats and dogs. Even animals people like to eat. They all love and give affection. They all feel happiness and fear, and all have their own individual personalities. Lets celebrate all animals.
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Angie karan
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Animals are the children of God
Admire them.
Love them.
Protect them.
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RESHMA CHEKNATH UMESH (Dear Reader, by, Julie and other stories)
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I’ve got strong feelings for her, yeah,” I confess, throwing all secrecy out the window. “Not sure if I can call it love, but yeah, I care about her.” Letting out a sigh, I then add, “No one knows except my pops and Sarah. To everyone else, we are just vegan besties.” I can’t help but crack a smile remembering when she gave us that nickname. “But why are you asking me all this?” “I'm moving to Singapore in a few hours,” he announces. And his tone is enough to make me freeze in my seat. “So I need to make sure she’ll be alright once I’m gone.” I put down the cutlery and take a sip of my smoothie, trying to disguise my smile. Is he really leaving? Damn! “Um, sorry, but why are you leaving?” “That’s beside the point,” he snaps. “She’ll need friends around her. Friends that
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Melanie Martins (Lured into Love (Blossom in Winter, #2))
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Dear Voyagers,
Your cameras have shown us the vastness of the universe,
Our eyes too can gaze upon the heavens and revel in nature,
But behind our eyes,
There’s something called a mind that processes it all.
What we call the mind
Spins countless tales and stories,
With such variety that one could say,
For every human that has ever lived, there exists a different image, emotion, analysis, and worldview, and this can be beautiful and at the same time terrifying.
I imagine mapping the universe completely,
Discovering life in other systems and galaxies,
Might be much sooner than charting the map that could explain human existence.
So many questions remain for me,
Like if,
In the coming decades, poverty is eradicated,
Freedom is universal,
Mars is colonized, and people live there,
Cities rise above Venus,
Plant-based diets replace meat,
Equality reaches every person and no one is questioned for their beliefs, orientations, or thoughts,
Diseases are cured,
Physical labor becomes meaningless, and robots end the hardship of human toil,
Earth’s climate change is halted,
Firearm possession is made free, and today’s concerns are all resolved—will everyone then live in peace?
My mind, my eyes, they know the answer:
“No.”
Probably then,
Conspiracy theorists
Would say it all happened in a studio,
Some would claim that veganism’s goal is to destroy chakras,
Others would start revolts against order and law, criticizing even that beautiful state.
This dissatisfaction doesn’t belong to any specific class or group,
It’s what we all are.
Environment and culture matter, but I think even if a brain chip were made
To transfer every piece of knowledge on Earth,
All fields of science, memories,
Experiences, languages, and the stories of every civilization, every human, and everything ever experienced to our minds,
We’d still harbor doubt.
Our efforts to prove ourselves to each other
Will be in vain.
Perhaps the right path
Is to continue and enjoy the unknown,
Or maybe to accept and find joy in never truly experiencing joy.
I play Hans Zimmer’s “Stay,”
Yet my mind continues to drift,
Time passes,
Those around me age as I move forward towards an unknown destination.
Perhaps someone, something,
4.5 billion light years away,
Is staring at a point in the sky,
They don’t know I’m here in an existential crisis,
That Earth is in a fight for survival,
How I envy them,
Staring into that dark spot in the sky,
They too are fortunate for not existing in this moment,
Or for their light not having reached me.
If Earth’s light reaches them,
They would surely grieve for these restless, lost souls,
For human history is tied to sorrow, pain, separation, and nothingness.
Perhaps the Big Crunch,
Absolute nothingness,
Is the only cure for this pain—
The pain of being and existing.
Dear Voyagers,
When your signal to Earth is lost,
It will feel like the death of a loved one,
Even though I know you’re alive somewhere, traversing an unknown path,
Something I doubt will happen after human death,
And even if it does,
It wouldn’t lessen the grief of those left behind who have yet to join that unknown journey.
I fear oblivion,
I fear the oblivions that disappear from history and memories, as if they never were,
Like the meal of a Native American grandmother a thousand years ago,
Or the kiss of two lovers and the story of their union and parting, never recorded anywhere.
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Arash Ghadir
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We Democrats like to believe we are the open-minded ones, but we’re not. We’re usually just as doctrinaire as the other guys; the only real difference between us and them is that we’ve got more vegans.
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Meghan McCain (America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom)
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All desire to laugh fled. How exactly did Strike think that it would cheer Robin up, to know that his girlfriend was thinking of buying a ludicrously expensive flat? Or was he about to announce (Robin's fragile mood began to collapse in on itself) that he and Elin were moving in together? Like a film flickering rapidly before her eyes she saw the upstairs flat empty, Strike living in luxury, herself in a tiny box room on the edge of London, whispering into her mobile so that her vegan landlady did not hear her.
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Robert Galbraith (Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike, #3))
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I just love animals and I do not want to kill them, cook them or eat them.
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Jónsi
“
Prepare this recipe that serves 8 any time that you want a filling dinner that the family loves.
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Charity Wilson (VEGAN COOKBOOK: 50 Vegan Recipes: Your Vegan Cookbook For Plant Based Eating And Healthy Living (Health Wealth & Happiness 47))
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I love animals, especially with barbeque sauce.
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J. Richard Singleton