Compassion for animals is so natural to us that it is only through habit, tradition or suggestion that we can be brought to mercilessness towards animal suffering and death.
Compassion for animals is so tightly connected to goodness of character that it may be confidently asserted that the one who is cruel to animals cannot be a good person. Compassion for animals and kindness to people flow from the same source. Thus, for example, when a sensitive person is reminded that when he was in a foul mood, incensed or drunk he beat his dog, horse or monkey—undeservedly, pointlessly or causing too much pain—he would feel the same dissatisfaction with himself as if he were reminded of an offense inflicted on a human being, which in this case we call the punitive voice of conscience.
— Schopenhauer
Fear God, do not torture animals. Use them while they are ready to serve you, let them go when they are tired, and give plenty of food and water to the wordless.
— Muhammad
Meat cannot be obtained without harming animals, and killing animals obstructs the path to bliss. Let a human being therefore refrain from eating meat.
— Manusmriti
A human being is not higher than other animals because he can heartlessly torture them, but because he pities them.
— The Dhammapada
Do not let your children kill insects: it is the first step towards homicide.
— Pythagoras
The joys that the feelings of pity and compassion for animals give a human being pay him back many times over for the pleasures which he would deprive himself by declining to hunt and consume meat.
