Archive

Quotes

Every creature in the world is like a book and a picture, to us, and a mirror.

—Alain de Lille, c. 1200

The righteous know the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

—Book of Proverbs, c. 500 BC

Imitate the ass in his love to his master.

—St. John Chrysostom, c. 388

A dog starved at his master’s gate / Predicts the ruin of the state.

—William Blake, 1807

I hate the sight of monkeys; they remind me so of poor relations.

—Henry Luttrell, 1820

There be beasts that, at a year old, observe more, and pursue that which is for their good more prudently, than a child can do at ten.

—Thomas Hobbes, 1651

Of all the creatures that breathe and creep on the surface of the earth, none is more to be pitied than man.

—Homer, c. 750 BC

Man and animals are really the conduit of food, the sepulcher of animals, and resting place of the dead, one causing the death of the other, making themselves the covering for the corruption of other dead bodies.

—Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500

Who hears the fishes when they cry?

—Henry David Thoreau, 1849

Alas! We are ridiculous animals.

—Horace Walpole, 1777

Animals are in possession of themselves; their soul is in possession of their body. But they have no right to their life, because they do not will it. 

—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1821

Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

—George Eliot, 1857

Keep running after a dog, and he will never bite you.

—François Rabelais, 1535