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Mahatma GhandiMahatma Ghandi


Leonarda da VinciLeonardo da Vinci


George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw


Bengamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin


Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln

Peter SingerProfessor Peter Singer




Public Domain images above courtesy of Wikipedia



As we all buy and eat food every day, how is it that we have been able to completely disconnect this activity from our ethical awareness? The choices we make in buying and eating food have greater ethical ramifications than any other human activity.


Some words of wisdom on vegetarianism and the treatment of animals from some well know people past and present.





"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Mahatma Gandhi 1869-1948


John Jacques Rousseau








On being asked why he was a vegetarian,
"Oh, come! That boot is on the other leg. Why should you call me to account for eating decently? If I battened on the scorched corpses of animals, you might well ask me why I did that." George Bernard Shaw (The Vegetarian, 15 January 1898)

"While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth? Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends." George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950  (Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1925)

"A dinner! How horrible!
Blood sacrifices are not in my line". George Bernard Shaw (Letter 30th December 1929)

"A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows".  George Bernard Shaw

"A man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses".  George Bernard Shaw



"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man." Charles Darwin 1809-1882









"As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, and no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together."   Isaac Bashevis Singer (The Nobel Prize in Literature 1978)





"A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral. If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals." Leo Tolstoy 1828-1910


"Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Albert Schweitzer (received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953)











“The butcher does not relent at the bleating of the lamb; neither is the heart of the cruel moved with distress. But the tears of the compassionate are sweeter than dew-drops, falling from roses on the bosom of spring.”
Amenohis IV aka Akhenaton (“servant of the one, true god”), the Heretic King (1380 – 1362 BC) (Egyptian pharaoh, pacifist, banned animal sacrifice and traditional Egyptian religion and instituted a religion based on compassion and monotheism)

"It is not a “personal choice” when you are eating my friends and you are ruining my world. When you made your “personal choice” did you ask the animal if you could confine, torture, and murder him or her? When you made your “personal choice” did you ask me if I mind all your pollution and devastation?"
Dave Warwak
(Humane Education Teacher)




Professor Peter Singer is Australia's and one of the world's most famous philosophers and ethicists. He has written numerous books and articles on the subject of ethics and food. Some of the books relating to the subject are Animal Liberation, The Ethics of What We Eat, Ethics into Action, Animal Factories (with Jim Mason) and How Are We to Live?

Acknowledgement to Animal Lib WA for this list.
Photos above courtesy of public domain Wikipedia

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