Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Matthew Scully

Quote by Matthew Scully

Work

Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

This book delves into the complex dynamics between humans and animals, examining the power dynamics and suffering that arise from human actions. It encourages readers to reflect on the moral implications of our interactions with animals and the call for mercy in our treatment of them. more

Author

Matthew Scully
Matthew Scully

Matthew Scully is an American author known for his contributions to political and religious writing. Born on March 20, 1959, he graduated from Princeton University and served as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush. Scully's work is noted for its insightful analysis and elegant prose, covering a range of topics from ethics to politics and religion. more

You May Also Like

“The first man . . . ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds?”

“The smell of factory farms . . . many notice these places only when the odours reach their homes, affecting their own quality of life. We create these animals for our profit and pleasure, playing with their genes, violating their dignity as living creatures, forcing them to lie and live in their own urine and excrement, turning pens into penitentiaries and frustrating their every desire except what is needed to keep them breathing and breeding. And then we complain about the smell.”

“It is the other way round: food cannot make you spiritual, but if you are spiritual your food habits will change. Eating anything will not make much difference. You can be a vegetarian and cruel to the extreme, and violent; you can be a non-vegetarian and kind and loving. Food will not make much difference. In India there are communities who have lived totally with vegetarian food; many Brahmins have lived totally with vegetarian food. They are non-violent but they are not spiritual.”

“With me, meditation is the only essential religion. And everything that follows it is virtue, because it comes of its own accord. You don't have to drag it, you don't have to discipline yourself for it. I have nothing to do with vegetarianism, but I know that if you meditate you are going to grow new perceptivity, new sensitivity, and you cannot kill animals.”

“Vegetarianism has nothing to do with religion: it is something basically scientific. It has nothing to do with morality, but it has much to do with aesthetics. It is unbelievable that a man of sensitivity, awareness, understanding, love, can eat meat. And if he can eat meat then something is missing he is still unconscious somewhere of what he is doing, unconscious of the implications of his acts.”