Quote of the Month “When you speak for the voiceless your soul smiles.” P.J. Johnson - Poet Laureate of the Yukon Previous Quotes There follows an old quote by the wonderful Roger Moore, written after a coward from the U.S. killed Cecil the Lion. I am reminded of it after reading about another sick individual from the U.S. who has recently killed many animals on a hunting trip to Namibia. What makes these people think they have the right to stop a heartbeat, let alone go to another country to do it. Anyway, Sir Roger sums up these evil people better than I can. Here is his quote: " 'Sport' hunting is a sickness, a perversion and a danger and should be recognised as such. People who get their "amusement" from hunting and killing defenceless animals can only be suffering from a mental disorder. We know that we should protect the most vulnerable and helpless in society, not destroy them – much less derive pleasure from doing so. Thankfully, those of us with a conscience are appalled by the idea of gunning down animals for the sake of a thrill or a photo. In a world with boundless opportunities for amusement, it is detestable that anyone would choose to get thrills from killing others who ask for nothing from life but the chance to remain alive. The animals whose lives are so cold-heartedly snuffed out have precisely the same capacity to feel pain and suffer as we do." Sir Roger Moore “One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.” Martin Luther King Jr. “The greatest privilege that comes with freedom of speech is using your voice for those who do not have one.” Ricky Gervais "The Greatest Threat to Our Planet Is the Belief That Someone Else Will Save It” Robert Swan “We should have the sense to leave the place alone.”
Sir Peter Scott (talking about Antarctica)
"I think sometimes we need to take a step back and just remember we have no greater right to be here than any other animal." Sir David Attenborough (in an interview with Radio Times magazine November 2017) "It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” Mahatma Gandi This is similar to the following quote often attributed to Edmund Burke: “All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” However, as no-one has found the source of this, it is probably a mis-quote.The sentiments are important though. Even just signing an online petition about something you care about is better than doing nothing at all. Even small actions can have an effect. "All animals are somebody, someone with a life of their own. Behind those eyes is a story, the story of their life in their world as they experience it.” Tom Regan "Animals have done us no harm and they have no power of resistance. There is something so very dreadful in tormenting those who have never harmed us, who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power." Cardinal John Henry Newman "Every species on the planet has its own unique individual behaviours. It is therefore supreme arrogance on the part of human-beings to constrain other-beings, forcing them to interact with, or perform for, humans, against their natural instincts. How can anyone know that non-human-beings in captivity are enjoying performing in habitats alien to them? It may relieve their boredom, but if they were in their own natural habitat they would not be bored. I was constrained in an office for the first part of my working life and 'performed' very well. It may have appeared I was enjoying it, but I hated every minute!" Phred (Marlane Newbury) This was a comment I made on a petition site regarding "performing" non-human animals, but it can equally be applied to horce-racing and other activities forced upon animals. "The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves." Jane Goodall Something most of us can do. Never be silent ! "You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."
John Bunyan
“If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth - beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals - would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals?” John Harris - from Animals, Men and Morals... (but often attributed to George Bernard Shaw) “An activist is someone who cannot help but fight for something. That person is not usually motivated by a need for power or money or fame, but in fact is driven slightly mad by some injustice, some cruelty, some unfairness, so much so that he or she is compelled by some internal moral engine to act to make it better.”
Eve Ensler - American playright Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man” Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher "Not a single creature on earth has more or less right to be here." Anthony Douglas Williams "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi "If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals." Albert Einstein “Choose being kind over being right and you'll be right every time.” Richard Carlson "Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it" Mark Twain ... and in these days of social networking, we can see just how many men, women, boys and bimbos take pleasure in inflicting pain. They advertise their cowardly and brutal cruelty by showing photographs of themselves with wild animals who they have just killed - after someone else has lined up the drugged, or in some cases TAME, creature so that they can do this without any danger to themselves of course. "I don't understand why when we destroy something created by man we call it vandalism, but when we destroy something created by nature, we call it progress." Ed Begley Jr. "The indifference, callousness and contempt that so many people exhibit toward animals is evil - first because it results in great suffering in animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great impoverishment of the human spirit. All education should be directed toward the refinement of the individual's sensibilities in relation not only to one's fellow humans everywhere, but to all things whatsoever." Ashley Montague "Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference. You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place - or not to bother." Dr. Jane Goodall "Only when the last tree is cut, only when the last river is polluted, only when the last fish is caught, will people realise you can’t eat money." Native American proverb "Kindness to animals and respect for all life are the only meaningful foundations for a civilized world." Michael Mountain "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” Nelson Mandela "Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Albert Schweitzer "It seems really unfair that man should have chosen the gorilla to symbolize everything aggressive and violent when it is the one thing the gorilla is not, and that we are." Sir David Attenborough "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness" Mark Twain "The traveller sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see" G.K. Chesterton "People think conservation is about fluffy animals. It is actually about trying to stop the human race from committing suicide." Gerald Durrell “Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world, for indeed that's all who ever have.” Margaret Mead | 