Quotessence
Home / Authors / Gary L. Francione Books
Gary L. Francione

Gary L. Francione Books

Professor

Related Quotes

“Animals are property. There are laws that supposedly protect animal interests in being treated “humanely,” but that term is interpreted in large part to mean that we cannot impose “unnecessary” harm on animals, and that is measured by what treatment is considered as necessary within particular industries, and according to customs of use, to exploit animals. The bottom line is that animals do not have any respect-based rights in the way that humans have, because we do not regard animals as having any moral value. They have only economic value. We value their interests economically, and we ignore their interests when it is economically beneficial for us to do so. At this point in time, it makes no sense to focus on the law, because as long as we regard animals as things, as a moral matter, the laws will necessarily reflect that absence of moral value and continue to do nothing to protect animals. We need to change social and moral thinking about animals before the law is going to do anything more.”

LifeWisdomInspirational QuotesJusticeEducationRightsSlaveryAnimalsNonviolenceExploitationVeganismPeace On EarthAbolitionAhimsaPeace MakingAbolitionistPeace MovementSentienceFrancioneNonviolence Jainism
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“I reject animal welfare reform and single-issue campaigns because they are not only inconsistent with the claims of justice that we should be making if we really believe that animal exploitation is wrong, but because these approaches cannot work as a practical matter. Animals are property and it costs money to protect their interests; therefore, the level of protection accorded to animal interests will always be low and animals will, under the best of circumstances, still be treated in ways that would constitute torture if applied to humans. By endorsing welfare reforms that supposedly make exploitation more “compassionate” or single-issue campaigns that falsely suggest that there is a coherent moral distinction between meat and dairy or between fur and wool or between steak and foie gras, we betray the principle of justice that says that all sentient beings are equal for purposes of not being used exclusively as human resources. And, on a practical level, we do nothing more than make people feel better about animal exploitation.”

LifeWisdomInspirational QuotesJusticeEducationRightsSlaveryAnimalsNonviolenceExploitationVeganismPeace On EarthAbolitionAhimsaPeace MakingAbolitionistPeace MovementSentienceFrancioneNonviolence Jainism
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“As discussed earlier, humans who lack the reflective self-awareness of normal adults, such as those with particular forms of amnesia or very young children or those with certain mental disabilities, still are self-aware and still have an interest in continuing to live. There may, of course, be a difference between the self-awareness of normal adult humans and that of other animals. But even if that is the case, it does not mean that the latter have no interest in continuing to live, and it does not justify treating the latter as commodities.”

JusticeAnimalsVegetarianismVeganismWill To LiveCommodification
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“We should not be surprised that more and more people feel comfortable about consuming animal products. After all, they are being assured by the “experts” that suffering is being decreased and they can buy “happy” meat, “free-range” eggs, etc.. These products even come with labels approved of by animal organizations. The animal welfare movement is actually encouraging the “compassionate” consumption of animal products. Animal welfare reforms do very little to increase the protection given to animal interests because of the economics involved: animals are property. They are things that have no intrinsic or moral value. This means that welfare standards, whether for animals used as foods, in experiments, or for any other purpose, will be low and linked to the level of welfare needed to exploit the animal in an economically efficient way for the particular purpose. Put simply, we generally protect animal interests only to the extent we get an economic benefit from doing so. The concept of “unnecessary” suffering is understood as that level of suffering that will frustrate the particular use. And that can be a great deal of suffering. Killing Animals and Making Animals Suffer | Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach”

PeaceKillingPeacefulWelfareAnimalsNonviolenceHumaneVeganismDietAhimsaFrancionePeace LovingAnimal ProductsAnimal UseNonhumans
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“The most important form of incremental change is the decision by the individual to become vegan. Veganism, or the eschewing of all animal products, is more than a matter of diet or lifestyle; it is a political and moral statement in which the individual accepts the principle of abolition in her own life. Veganism is the one truly abolitionist goal that we can all achieve - and we can achieve it immediately, starting with our next meal.”

ImportantMatterFormPoliticalNextIndividualGoalDecisionAnimalAcceptingMoralPrinciplesAchieveProductsStartingLifestyleStatementsDietsMealsVeganVeganismAbolitionAbolitionistIncremental Change
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“There is no meaningful distinction between eating flesh and eating dairy or other animal products. Animals exploited in the dairy industry live longer than those used for meat, but they are treated worse during their lives, and they end up in the same slaughterhouse after which we consume their flesh anyway. There is probably more suffering in a glass of milk or an ice cream cone than there is in a steak.”

EndsUsedSufferingAnimalProductsIndustryEatingGlassesFleshMeaningfulTreatedIceMeatDistinctionMilkCreamIce CreamSteakDairyConesSlaughterhousesIce Cream Cones
Book:Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation
Create image

“There is increasing social concern about our use of nonhumans for experiments, food, clothing and entertainment. This concern about animals reflects both our own moral development as a civilization and our recognition that the differences between humans and animals are, for the most part, differences of degree and not of kind.”

HumansKindUseSocialDifferencesAnimalMoralDevelopmentCivilizationDegreesConcernEntertainmentExperimentsRecognitionClothingsHumans And AnimalsMoral Development
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“We proclaim human intelligence to be morally valuable per se because we are human. If we were birds, we would proclaim the ability to fly as morally valuable per se. If we were fish, we would proclaim the ability to live underwater as morally valuable per se. But apart from our obviously self-interested proclamations, there is nothing morally valuable per se about human intelligence.”

IfsHumansSelfAbilityBirdFishesValuableProclamationUnderwaterHuman Intelligence
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“When it comes to animal agriculture, there is conventional, which is rally hideous, and 'compassionate' and 'certified humane' or whatever, which 'may' be 'slightly' less hideous. But it is all torture. It's all wrong. These 'happy' gimmicks are just designed to make the public feel better about exploiting animals. Don't buy the propaganda of 'happy' exploitation. Go vegan and promote veganism.”

FeelsMayAnimalPropagandaTortureVeganCompassionateConventionalFeel BetterAgricultureExploitationHumaneVeganismHideousGimmicksAnimal Agriculture
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“I find it very annoying that so many animal advocates talk about the difficulty of being vegan. Many animal advocates are inclined to make the issue their suffering and not the animals' suffering, and I suppose that accounts for part of the reason that veganism is portrayed as such a "sacrifice." And many animal advocates are not vegans, or are "flexible vegans," which means that they do not observe veganism at all or not consistently, and emphasizing the supposed difficulty of veganism is part of justifying their own behavior.”

MeanReasonSufferingAnimalIssuesSacrificeBehaviorAccountsDifficultyVeganAnnoyingConsistentlyFlexibleVeganismAnimal Suffering
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“99% of our uses of animals, including our numerically most significant use of them for food, do not involve any sort of necessity or any real conflict between human and nonhuman interests. If animals matter morally at all, then, even without accepting a theory of animal rights, those uses of animals cannot be morally justified.”

IfsHumansRealMatterUseInterestAnimalAcceptingRightsTheoryConflictIncludingSignificantAnimal RightsJustified
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“Being vegan is easy. Are there social pressures that encourage you to continue to eat, wear, and use animal products? Of course there are. But in a patriarchal, racist, homophobic, and ableist society, there are social pressures to participate and engage in sexism, racism, homophobia, and ableism. At some point, you have to decide who you are and what matters morally to you. And once you decide that you regard victimizing vulnerable nonhumans is not morally acceptable, it is easy to go and stay vegan”

MatterUseCoursesSocialEasyAnimalProductsRacismPressureRegardWho You AreVulnerableRacistSexismVegetarianVeganAcceptableWhat MattersVeganismHomophobiaHomophobicAbolitionistSocial PressureFrancione
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“Ethical veganism results in a profound revolution within the individual; a complete rejection of the paradigm of oppression and violence that she has been taught from childhood to accept as the natural order. It changes her life and the lives of those with whom she shares this vision of nonviolence. Ethical veganism is anything but passive; on the contrary, it is the active refusal to cooperate with injustice”

Has BeensOrderIndividualNaturalResultsAcceptingVisionViolenceShareChildhoodTaughtRevolutionProfoundClimate ChangeInjusticeActiveContraryOppressionRejectionGlobal WarmingEthicalVeganNonviolencePassiveRefusalVeganismParadigmNatural OrderClassismFrancione
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“So it is always preferable to discuss the matter of veganism in a non-judgemental way. Remember that to most people, eating flesh or dairy and using animal products such as leather, wool, and silk, is as normal as breathing air or drinking water. A person who consumes dairy or uses animal products is not necessarily or usually what a recent and unpopular American president labelled an "evil doer.”

PeopleWayPersonsMatterUseRememberEvilEasyPresidentWaterAnimalAirProductsNormalEatingDrinkingClimate ChangeFleshBreathingGlobal WarmingVeganismLeatherSilkDoersDairyDrinking WaterAmerican PresidentWoolJudgementalClassismFrancioneEvil DoersNon Judgemental
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“Forty-two years after Dr. King was murdered, we are still a nation of inequality. People of color, women, gays, lesbians, and others are still treated as second-class citizens. Yes, things have changed but we have still not achieved equality among all humans. And nonhuman animals continue to be chattel property without any inherent value.”

PeopleYearsHumansStillsTwoValuesNationsAnimalClassChangedColorKingsCitizensGayPropertyTreatedInequalityFortyTwo YearsInherentWomens RightsDrsThings Have ChangedSecond Class Citizens
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“We can no more justify using nonhumans as human resources than we can justify human slavery. Animal use and slavery have at least one important point in common: both institutions treat sentient beings exclusively as resources of others. That cannot be justified with respect to humans; it cannot be justified with respect to nonhumans—however “humanely” we treat them.”

HumansImportantUseAnimalCommonResourcesTreatsInstitutionsSlaveryJustifyJustifiedHuman ResourcesSentient BeingsFrancione
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image

“Veganism is about nonviolence. It is about not engaging in harm to other sentient beings; to oneself; and to the environment upon which all beings depend for life. In my view, the animal rights movement is, at its core, a movement about ending violence to all sentient beings. It is a movement that seeks fundamental justice for all. It is an emerging peace movement that does not stop at the arbitrary line that separates humans from nonhumans.”

HumansDoePeaceLinesJusticeAnimalViewsEnvironmentRightsViolenceMovementDependsFundamentalsOneselfHarmCoreAnimal RightsNonviolenceEngagingArbitraryEmergingVeganismSentient BeingsJustice For All
Author:Gary L. Francione
Create image