What do Ghandi and McCartney have in common?
Vegetarianism.
For the 20+ years that I have been a vegetarian I have tried not to push my views on anyone else. I felt it was a personal choice, and everyone has to make up their own minds about how they want to live and eat. But times have changed. Most of us now know the devastating effects of factory-farming on the environment. Many people are adopting eating practices like Meatless Monday, or Vegan before Six. It’s a start, and definitely a shift in the right direction.
While doing some research I was delighted to come across a list of quotes by many of the world’s greatest thinkers who are also vegetarians – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mahatma Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein – to name just a few. There are also some famous entertainers – Paul McCartney, Richard Gere, and even Alex Baldwin.
I am in good company.
“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”
― Paul McCartney
“You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“As custodians of the planet, it is our responsibility to deal with all species with kindness. People get offended by animal rights campaigns. It’s ludicrous. It’s not as bad as mass animal death in a factory.” Richard Gere
“Every time we sit down to eat, we make a choice: Please choose vegetarianism. Do it for animals. Do it for the environment and do it for your health.” Alec Baldwin
“To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body.” Mahatma Gandhi
“We consume the carcasses of creatures of like appetites, passions and organs as our own, and fill the slaughterhouses daily with screams of pain and fear.” Robert Louis Stevenson
“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
“I am in favour of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.” Abraham Lincoln
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi 1869-1948
“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
Reblogged this on Time for Action.
Great post Shelley! I didn’t know you were a vegetarian! I’ve been vegan since 1995 (my husband too) and vegetarian since I was thirteen. I ate almost no meat before that, but it’s harder to do as a child, especially in the 1960s where there was less awareness. I’m glad it’s healthy, but I have only ever eschewed meat for animal rights reasons. When I was little, I was given cute little stuffed animals to play with and then told to eat animals. Even as a three year old, I knew it was wrong. I was stunned to see all the well-known vegetarians in your post, especially those from eras long past. Good company indeed!
A vegan! Good for you. I am aspiring to take that next step but haven’t quite made it. I need to spend more time in the company of vegans I think.
Down here in Southern California being vegan is easy. Each night we’ve been dining at our favorite vegan restaurant, Real Food Daily. Oh, what food these morsels be!
Shelley, how inspiring! President Bill Clinton adopted a vegan diet a couple years ago as well. The list is growing.
I didn’t know that about Clinton! Yes, this list really is growing.