Animals deserve our respect and compassion. Unfortunately, not all individuals or organizations treat them with the kindness and care they deserve. Read on to discover 60 animal abuse quotes to help you speak out against cruelty.
From famous figures to everyday activists, these quotes about animal abuse will remind you of the importance of fighting for the rights and welfare of animals.
Powerful and thought-provoking, these quotes and sayings will raise awareness and inspire action. After reading our page, we hope you feel inspired to act, share and stand up for the rights and protection of animals. Please share with others to help inspire them too!
Animal Abuse Quotes
1. “Animal abuse is next to human abuse and I don’t know why they think this is no big deal.” – Courtney Emken
2. “There are no acceptable reasons for cruelty or abuse to animals. None!” – Unknown
3. “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind.” – Mahatma Gandhi
4. “Stop animal abuse! Do animals deserve pain?? No! They are the purest and most loyal soul than humans.” – Unknown
5. “Stop turning a blind eye to animal cruelty.” – Unknown
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6. “The abuse of a harmless thing is the essence of sin.” – A. W. Tozer
7. “Dear intelligent people of the world: don’t get shampoo in your eyes. It really stings. There. Done. Now stop torturing animals.” – Ricky Gervais
8. “Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
9. “He who sees cruelty and does nothing about it is himself cruel.” – Abraham Lincoln
10. “Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.” – Thomas A. Edison
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11. “If you really care about animals, then stop trying to figure out how to exploit them compassionately. Just stop exploiting them.” – Gary L Francione
12. “Life on a chain is no life at all. If you don’t want them in your home, you shouldn’t have them.” – Unknown
13. “Animal cruelty is not isolated to the egg industry. Unfortunately, animal abuse is systemic throughout animal agriculture.” – Adam Durand
14. “If you don’t like seeing pictures of violence towards animals being posted, you need to help stop the violence, not the pictures.” – Johnny Depp
15. “There is no excuse for animal abuse.” – Unknown
16. “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” – Albert Einstein
17. “Why be cruel to animals when they treat you better than people.” – Unknown
18. “Stop abusing animals in the name of cosmetic testing.” – Unknown
19. “Animals are the victims on this earth. They didn’t declare war, they don’t have weapons, and they don’t want to destroy humans, or impose religion. Their only crime is that they exist.” – Unknown
20. “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.” – Leo Tolstoy
21. “God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.” – Jacques Deval
22. “Don’t treat animals as animals. Treat them as living beings. That’s what they are.” – Anthony Douglas William
23. “Humanity’s true moral test, its fundamental test consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.” – Milan Kundera
24. “My heart weeps when I see abuse or cruelty to any animal.” – Anthony Douglas Williams
25. “The wild, cruel animal is not behind the bars of a cage. He is in front of it.” – Unknown
26. “Animals need people, too. They need our care and kindness.” – Mary Lindeen
27. “I respect animals more than people – we’re the ones messing up this world, not them.” – Unknown
28. “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian.” – Paul McCartney
29. “Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my friends.” – George Bernard Shaw
30. “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” – Jeremy Bentham
31. “Animals should not require your permission to live on earth. Animals were given the right to be here long before we arrived.” – Anthony Douglas Williams
32. “If humans killed each other at the same rate that we kill animals we’d be extinct in 17 days.” – Unknown
33. “I have always felt that the way we treat animals is a pretty good indicator of the compassion we are capable of for the human race.” – Ali McGraw
34. “Animals live peacefully, and only attack or kill when they think they have no other option. The most terrible behavior and actions in history have been displayed by our species, yet calling a person an animal is an insult.” – Jason Edward Shiffman
35. “I support the maximum penalty for animal abuse! Do you?” – Unknown
36. “Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored.” – Alice Walker
37. “Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.” – Thomas A. Edison
38. “Animal abuse is an international problem, which has been part of human civilization for millennia.” – Catherine Tiplady
39. “When you eat next, ask yourself whether there is anything that you enjoy so much that it is worth the suffering and death of another.” – Gary L Francione
40. “Our treatment of animals will someday be considered barbarous. There cannot be perfect civilization until man realizes that the rights of every living creature are as sacred as his own.” – Dr. David Starr Jordan
41. “I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it’s such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.” – Ellen DeGeneres
42. “Animal abuse is the harm, neglect or misuse of animals by humans resulting in the animals suffering physically and/or emotionally.” – Catherine Tiplady
43. “The animals can’t speak, and we have to, try and find the words for the animals. The best part is, getting the animal before it’s tortured to death.” – Paul Berriff
44. “You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
45. “Anyone who says that life matters less to animals than it does to us has not held in his hands an animal fighting for its life.” – J. M. Coetzee
46. “Never believe that animals suffer less than humans. Pain is the same for them that it is for us. Even worse, because they cannot help themselves.” – Louis J. Camuti
47. “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.” – Oxford University Press
48. “Atrocities are not less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are called medical research.” – George Bernard Shaw
49. “When I look into the eyes of an animal I do not see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul.” – AD Williams
50. “We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves.” – Cesar Chavez
51. “I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated any more than those of humans.” – James Stewart
52. “Why are vegans made fun of while the inhumane factory farming process regards animals and the natural world merely as commodities to be exploited for profit?” – Ellen Page
53. “Mother cow cry out for days after their babies are taken away from them.” – Unknown
54. “The meat industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars lying to the public about their product. But no amount of false propaganda can sanitize meat. The facts are absolutely clear: Eating meat is bad for human health, catastrophic for the environment, and a living nightmare for animals.” – Chrissie Hynde
55. “Life is life – whether it a cat, dog, or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man’s own advantage.” – Sri Aurobindo
56. “The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
57. “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
58. “The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” – Charles Darwin
59. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France
60. “All creatures are deserving of a life free from fear and pain.” – Maura Cummings
Holly Jaskolka is a certified Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner, yoga instructor, and an impassioned advocate for holistic well-being. Fueled by her love for animals and wanderlust, Holly leads a plant-based lifestyle that she complements with immersive travel experiences. When she’s not jet-setting to uncover the world’s hidden gems, she’s empowering individuals to heal emotionally, particularly those grappling with the aftermath of breakups. Connect with Holly on LinkedIn.
