#animals

Every animal is a tradition, and together they are a vast part of our heritage as human beings. No animal completely lacks humanity, yet no person is ever completely human. By ourselves, we people are simply balls of protoplasm. We merge with animals through magic, metaphor, or fantasy, growing their fangs and putting on their feathers. Then we become funny or tragic; we can be loved, hated, pitied, and admired. For us, animals are all the strange, beautiful, pitiable, and frightening things that they have ever been: gods, slaves, totems, sages, tricksters, devils, clowns, companions, lovers, and far more. ↗

— Boria Sax

#traditions #beauty

As an animal lover, I don’t like zoos. I feel the only creatures that should be caged behind bars are politicians, lobbyists, and lawyers. And rapists, but I’ve already listed that three times. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#funny #humor #lawyers #politicians #politics

Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself. ↗

— James Anthony Froude

#creatures #death #fellow #fellow creatures #his

Animals are the bridge between us and the beauty of all that is natural. They show us what's missing in our lives, and how to love ourselves more completely and unconditionally. They connect us back to who we are, and to the purpose of why we're here. ↗

— Trisha McCagh

#beauty

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help. ↗

— Albert Schweitzer

#ethical #fellow #fellow men #help #him

Without fail, he always signed off on these letters with love and he always included Whiskey and Bess in the list of individuals sending this love my way. At the time it made me laugh, it made me embarrassed, but as soon as I softened, as soon as I matured back into his son, I came to appreciate what he was saying -- an endearing and magnanimous reminder of how family will always be the sum of its individual members, be they human or animal. ↗

— Nick Trout

#family #pets #family

People's hearts are like wild animals. They attach their selves to those that love and train them. ↗

— Ali ibn Abi Talib

#hearts #like #love #people #selves

The difference between humans and wild animals is that humans pray before they commit murder. ↗

— Friedrich Durrenmatt

#between #commit #difference #humans #murder

Elephants, it turns out, are surprisingly stealthy. As the sunlight fades, other species declare their presence. Throngs of zebras and wildebeests thunder by in the distance, trailing dust clouds. Cape buffalo snort and raise their horns and position themselves in front of their young. Giraffes stare over treetops, their huge brown eyes blinking, then lope away in seeming slow motion. But no elephants. ↗

— Thomas French

#elephants #stealth #life

Never break a promise to an animal. They're like babies—they won't understand. ↗

— Tamora Pierce

#promises #immortality