“Cruelty, very far from being a vice, is the first sentiment Nature injects in us all. The infant breaks his toy, bites his nurse's breast, strangles his canary long before he is able to reason; cruelty is stamped in animals, in whom, as I think I have said, Nature's laws are more emphatically to be read than in ourselves; cruelty exists amongst savages, so much nearer to Nature than civilized men are; absurd then to maintain cruelty is a consequence of depravity. . . . Cruelty is simply the energy in a man civilization has not yet altogether corrupted: therefore it is a virtue, not a vice.” ThinkingMenFirstsLongSaidReasonAbleLawEnergyAnimalBreakVirtueCivilizationConsequenceVicesAbsurdCrueltyBreastsCivilizedSentimentsBitesNurseToysSavagesInfantDepravityCanaries Author:Marquis de Sade
“Good food is a celebration of life, and it seems absurd to me that in celebrating life we should take life. That is why I don't eat flesh. I see no need for killing.” NeedsShouldSeemsAnimalFoodEatingKillingFleshAbsurdCelebrateAnimal RightsCelebrationGood FoodCelebrate LifeEating FoodCelebration Of Life Book:The Vegetarian Epicure Source: The Vegetarian Epicure
“Grace is in a great measure a natural gift; elegance implies cultivation; or something of more artificial character. A rustic, uneducated girl may be graceful, but an elegant woman must be accomplished and well trained. It is the same with things as with persons; we talk of a graceful tree, but of an elegant house or other building. Animals may be graceful, but they cannot be elegant. The movements of a kitten or a young fawn are full of grace; but to call them "elegant" animals would be absurd.” WellsMayPersonsCharacterWould BeYoungGirlHouseNaturalAnimalGraceTreeMovementBuildingAbsurdAccomplishedArtificialElegantEleganceKittenCultivationUneducatedRusticNatural GiftsElegant WomanFawns Book:A Selection of English Synonyms Source: A Selection of English Synonyms
“It is absurd to talk of one animal being higher than another...we consider those, where the intellectual faculties most developed as the highest. - A bee doubtless would [use] ... instincts as a criteria.” UseAnimalHigherHighestIntellectualInstinctAbsurdFacultyBeesCriteria Author:Charles Darwin