Do you not see how God is praised by those in the heavens and those on earth? The very birds praised Him as they wing their way.
—The Qur’an, c. 620Quotes
How like to us is that filthy beast the ape.
—Cicero, 45 BCIn every man is a wild beast; most of them don’t know how to hold it back, and the majority give it full rein when they are not restrained by terror of law.
—Frederick the Great, 1759Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
—George Eliot, 1857Who hears the fishes when they cry?
—Henry David Thoreau, 1849A dog starved at his master’s gate / Predicts the ruin of the state.
—William Blake, 1807Animals 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, 1821Men, my dear, are very queer animals—a mixture of horse nervousness, ass stubbornness, and camel malice.
—T. H. Huxley, 1895A bull contents himself with one meadow, and one forest is enough for a thousand elephants; but the little body of a man devours more than all other living creatures.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 64Man is no man, but a wolf, to a stranger.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCGo to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCImitate the ass in his love to his master.
—St. John Chrysostom, c. 388