“So the horns of the stag are sharp to offend his adversary, but are branched for the purpose of parrying or receiving the thrusts of horns similar to his own, and have therefore been formed for the purpose of combating other stags for the exclusive possession of the females; who are observed, like the ladies in the times of chivalry, to attend to the car of the victor. The final cause of this contest amongst the males seems to be, that the strongest and most active animal should propagate the species, which should thence become improved.” ShouldSeemsPurposeCausesAnimalCarSurvivalFemaleSpeciesMalesFinalsPossessionActiveStrongestReceivingContestsExclusiveHornsAdversariesThrustChivalryStags Author:Erasmus Darwin
“Although other animals cannot reason nor speak the way humans do, this does not give us the right to do with them as we like. Even though our supposed possession of a soul and superior intelligence are used to create an arbitrary dividing line over rights, the fact remains that all animals have the capacity to experience pain and suffering, and in suffering they are our equals.” WayGivingHumansDoeSoulReasonFactsPainUsedSufferingSpeakLinesAnimalRightsCapacityRemainsPossessionSuperiorsArbitraryDividingPain And SufferingSuperior Intelligence Author:Nathaniel Altman
“Man is at his furthest remove from the animal as a child, his intellect most human. With his fifteenth year and puberty he comes astep closer to the animal; with the sense of possessions of his thirties (the median line between laziness and greediness), still another step. In his sixtieth year of life he frequently loses his modesty as well, then the septuagenarian steps up to us as a completely unmasked beast: one need only look at the eyes and the teeth.” MenNeedsYearsHumansWellsLooksChildrenStillsEyeLosesLinesAnimalStepsAgingPossessionIntellectTeethBeastRemoveLazinessModestyStep UpPubertyYears Of LifeGreedinessMedian Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“Faculty X is a sense of reality of other places and other times, and it is the possession of it—fragmentary and uncertain though it is—that distinguishes man from all other animals.” MenRealityAnimalPossessionFacultyUncertain Book:The essential Colin Wilson Source: The essential Colin Wilson