I have a big thing for quotes. I always have. All types of quotes – motivational, inspirational, on strength, on perseverance, on happiness and sadness…you get the idea. A great quote conveys a profound thought quickly and efficiently, and in a thought-provoking way.

The quotes I’ve collected here meet that criteria, and are relevant to veganism. Although I know the Shel Silverstein writing is a poem and not a quote, so perhaps doesn’t belong in a “Quotes” section, I’ve included it because it’s fitting, provocative – and also just a really good poem. 🙂 

Point of View Thanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless Christmas dinner’s dark and blue When you stop and try to see it From the turkey’s point of view.

Sunday dinner isn’t sunny Easter feasts are just bad luck When you see it from the viewpoint Of a chicken or a duck.

Oh how I once loved tuna salad, Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too ‘Til I stopped and looked at dinner From the dinner’s point of view. – Shel Silverstein 

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

“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” – Albert Schweitzer

“Animals are my friends…and I don’t eat my friends.” – George Bernard Shaw

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” – Paul McCartney

“The problem is that humans have victimized animals to such a degree that they are not even considered victims. They are not even considered at all. They are nothing; they don’t count; they don’t matter. They are commodities like TV sets and cell phones. We have actually turned animals into inanimate objects – sandwiches and shoes.” – Gary Yourofsky

“I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just couldn’t disconnect myself from it any longer.” – Ellen DeGeneres

“Poor animals, how jealously they guard their bodies, for to us is merely an evening’s meal, but to them is life itself.” – T. Casey Brennan

“If a kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming, they would never touch meat again.” – James Cromwell

“Vegan food is soul food in its truest form. Soul food means to feed the soul. And to me, your soul is your intent. If your intent is pure, you are pure.” – Erykah Badu

“I don’t see why someone should lose their life just so you can have a snack.” – Russell Brand

“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

“Could you look an animal in the eyes and say to it, ‘My appetite is more important than your suffering’?” – Moby

“Why are vegans made fun of while the inhumane factory farming process regards animals and the natural world merely as commodities to be exploited for profit?” – Ellen Page

“We all love animals. Why do we call some ‘pets’ and others ‘dinner?’” – K.D. Lang

“We choose to eat meat and have therefore built slaughterhouses for the animals and hospitals for us.”  – Akbarali Jetha

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” – Ayurvedic proverb

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” – Albert Einstein

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain

“One to change a few. A few to change many. Many to change the world. Starts with one.” – Anonymous

“The future depends on what we do in the present.” – Gandhi

“Always let your conscience be your guide.” – Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio) 

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Ghandi

“People eat meat and think they will become as strong as an ox, forgetting that the ox eats grass.” – Pino Caruso

“Becoming vegan is the most important and direct change we can immediately make to save the planet and its species.” – Chris Hedges

“My body will not be a tomb for other creatures.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

“Please don’t refuse with your eyes what the animals endure with their bodies.” – Shaun Monson

“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

“There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their ability to feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery.” – Charles Darwin

“The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.” – Hippocrates

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”  – Thomas Edison

“You can’t do anything violent humanely.” – James Wildman

“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.” – Alice Walker

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” – Albert Einstein

“No other animal on Earth has portrayed such a disregard for life than mankind.” – Anthony Douglas Williams

“When people ask me why I don’t eat meat or any other animal products, I say, ‘Because they are unhealthy and they are the product of a violent and inhumane industry.’” – Casey Affleck

“We are, quite literally, gambling with the future of our planet – for the sake of hamburgers.” – Peter Singer

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong in the world.” – Dr. Paul Farmer

“Veganism is not about how hard it is for you. It’s about every animal’s right not to be used as a slave.” – Randy Sandberg

“I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.” – Ghandi

“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.” – Michael Klaper

“Nothing hurts a good soul and a kind heart more than to live amongst people who can’t understand it.” – Ali Ibn Abi Taalib

“When you feel the suffering of every living thing in your own heart, that is consciousness.” – Bhagavad Gita

“Earth was created for all of us, not some of us.” – Anthony Douglas Williams

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou

“If intelligence and capability are not criteria for the possession of rights, why would animals – who have the capacity to feel fear and pain – be excluded from our moral consideration?” – Jack Norris

“Animal factories are one more sign of the extent to which our technological capacities have advanced faster than our ethics.” – Peter Singer

“The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” – Jeremy Bentham

“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” – Martin Buber

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

“The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” – Charles Darwin

“If you can be anything, be kind.” – Anonymous