These are some of our favorite quotes about vegetarianism as spoken by celebrities, philosophers, politicians, activists and other smart and influential individuals who have graced this planet. We are not alone in our pursuit of kindness to animals and the spread of the vegetarian diet. Enjoy these inspirational vegetarian quotes – we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Do you have a favorite vegetarianism quote? Add it in the comments below! We just might add it to this article!
- “Killing an animal to make a coat is sin. IT wasn’t meant to be, and we have no right to do it. A woman gains status when she refuses to see anything killed to be put on her back. Then she’s truly beautiful.” Doris Day, Actress/Singer
- “I’ve been a vegetarian for years and years. I’m not judgemental about others who aren’t, I just feel I cannot eat or wear living creatures.” Drew Barrymore, Actress
- “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” Linda or Paul McCartney, Musician
- “You can judge a man’s true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.” Paul McCartney, Musician
- “I became a vegetarian out of compassion for animals and to live as healthy as possible. I realized soon after that I was truly concerned with nonviolent consumption and my own health, a vegan diet was the best decision.” Davey Havok, Musician
- “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, Mathemetician
- “The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.” Leonardo da Vinci, Artist/Scientist
- “Animals are my friends. And I don’t eat my friends.” George Bernard Shaw, Playwright
- “While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth?” George Bernard Shaw, Playwright
- “Thou shalt not kill” does not apply to murder of one’s own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai.” Leo Tolstoy, Author
- “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, Author
- “To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body.” Mahatma Gandhi, Political Activist
- “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi, Political Activist
- “Ethically they had arrived at the conclusion that man’s supremacy over lower animals meant not that the former should prey upon the latter, but that the higher should protect the lower, and that there should be mutual aid between the two as between man and man. They had also brought out the truth that man eats not for enjoyment but to live.” Mahatma Gandhi, Political Activist
- “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, Theoretical Physicist
- “What is it that should trace the insuperable line? The question is not, ‘Can they reason?’ nor, ‘Can they talk?’ but, ‘Can they suffer?'” Jeremy Bentham, Philosopher
- “In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they’re the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought.” Isaac Bashevis Singer, Author
- “Even in the worm that crawls in the earth there glows a divine spark. When you slaughter a creature, you slaughter God.” Isaac Bashevis Singer, Author
- “As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.” Isaac Bashevis Singer, Author
- “People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times.” Isaac Bashevis Singer, Author
- “Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.” Albert Schweitzer, Physician/Theologian
- “I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.” Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President
- “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, Inventor
- “The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” Charles Darwin, Naturalist
- “You’re thinking I’m one of those wise-ass California vegetarians who is going to tell you that eating a few strips of bacon is bad for your health. I’m not. I say its a free country and you should be able to kill yourself at any rate you choose, as long as your cold dead body is not blocking my driveway.” Scott Adams, Cartoonist
- “I can’t count the times that upon telling someone I am vegetarian, he or she responded by pointing out an inconsistency in my lifestyle or trying to find a flaw in an argument I never made. I have often felt that my vegetarianism matters more to such people than it does to me.” Jonathan Safran Foer, Author
- “Perhaps in the back of our minds we already understand, without all the science I’ve discussed, that something terribly wrong is happening. Our sustenance now comes from misery. We know that if someone offers to show us a film on how our meat is produced, it will be a horror film. We perhaps know more than we care to admit, keeping it down in the dark places of our memory– disavowed. When we eat factory-farmed meat we live, literally, on tortured flesh. Increasingly, that tortured flesh is becoming our own.” Jonathan Safran Foer, Author
- “Flesh eating is unprovoked murder.” Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father
- “I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.” Henry David Thoreau, Author/Philosopher
- “Nothing’s changed my life more. I feel better about myself as a person, being conscious and responsible for my actions, and I lost weight and my skin cleared up, and I got bright eyes and I just became stronger and healthier and happier. I can’t think of anything better in the world but to be vegan.” Alicia Silverstone, Actress
- “I did it for political, moral reasons, thinking that I was making this great sacrifice. But it was absolutely necessary. I was not going to contribute to the violence in the world anymore.” Alicia Silverstone, Actress
- “Chickens, pigs and other animals are interesting individuals with personalities and intelligence. What people need to understand is that if they’re eating animals, they’re promoting cruelty to animals.” Pamela Anderson, Actress
- “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, Actor
- “I like animals – all animals. I wouldn’t hurt a cat or a dog, or a chicken or a cow. And I wouldn’t ask someone else to hurt them for me. That’s why I’m a vegetarian.” Peter Dinklage, Actor
- “If the entire world decided to become vegan tomorrow, a whole host of the world’s problems would disappear overnight. … With that one action of becoming vegan, you are quite effectively making the world a better place.” Moby, Musician
- “Thousands of people who say they love animals sit down once or twice a day and enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living, and who endured the awful suffering and the terror of the abattoirs.” Jane Goodall, Anthropologist
- “I would feel guilty that what was on my plate was walking around yesterday. Either I could live with that or stop eating meat. I choose the latter, and I’m happier for it.” Carrie Underwood, Musician
- “I think there’s something odd about eating another living anything.” Shania Twain, Musician
- “It practices respect and love for life all through the day. So three times a day, you make a decision to eat things that have not been killed.” Natalie Portman, Actress
- “Animals are nicer than humans and they’re conscious beings. If you stick your grandmother in an oven, she will probably be tasty. But is that any reason to eat your grandmother?” Morrissey, Musician
Do you have a favorite vegetarianism quote? Add it in the comments below! We just might add it to this article!
The factory killing of animals is so gruesome, and the trauma it causes the animal is absolutely immoral. Those who revel in the practice of eating meat get exactly what they deserve—a shorter, disease-ridden life.
If aliens invaded earth and started using humans for food, being outraged would be hypocritical!
Did an animal die so you could eat;
Did an animal suffer to become your meat;
Did you hear it scream, did you feel it’s pain;
It’s what happens again and again;
They silently beg, they plead with their eyes,
but you weren’t there to hear their cries …