Animal Rights: Percy Bysshe Shelly, “It is only by softening and…”

“It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust.”
Percy Bysshe Shelly

Who was Percy Bysshe Shelly
Born on August 4, 1792—the year of the Terror in France—Percy Bysshe Shelley (the “Bysshe” from his grandfather, a peer of the realm) was the son of Timothy and Elizabeth Shelley. As the elder son among one brother, John, and four sisters, Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, and Hellen, Percy stood in line not only to inherit his grandfather’s considerable estate but also to sit in Parliament one day. In his position as oldest male child, young Percy was beloved and admired by his sisters, his parents, and even the servants in his early reign as young lord of Field Place, the family home near Horsham, Sussex.

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https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/percy-bysshe-shelley

Shelly’s contribution to animal rights

History of Animal Rights: Shelly

Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the major English Romantic poets was a controversial personality, an unconventional thinker of the time in which he lived. His uncompromising idealism and unorthodox life made him a much maligned figure. Shelly championed such causes as free love, atheism and vegetarianism, all of which were totally radical ideas in his day. He was an advocate of social justice for the working classes and likewise
for the injustices which he saw perpetrated upon all living creatures. Shelly became a fighter for the rights of animals after personally witnessing many and varied mistreatments which occurred during the domestication and and slaughtering of animals. In the more modern era it was Shelly who was among the first to speak out in regard to our treatment of animals as a progressive political issue equivalent with our treatment of other human beings. He considered that the slaughter of animals for food was not only the root crime of the human race but also the cause of all our other immoral and criminal behaviours.

Read more:
http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/animal-rights-a-history-percy-bysshe-shelly.html

Take Action

Vegan Society
https://www.vegansociety.com/

PETA
https://how-to-go-vegan.peta.org/

Animal Rights: Mahatma Gandhi, “I hold that the more helpless…”

“I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.”
Mahatma Gandhi

Who was Mahatma Gandhi?
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British Rule, and in turn inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

Animal Rights: Mahatma Ghandi, “I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to…”

I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind.”
Mahatma Ghandi

Who was Mahatma Gandhi?

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British Rule, and in turn inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā, first…

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

More Quotes:
https://www.azquotes.com/author/5308-Mahatma_Gandhi

 

Inspiration/Motivation and Animal Rights: Marcus Aurelius, “Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been …”

“Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.”
Marcus Aurelius

Who was Marcus Aurelius?

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors, and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius

Animal Rights: Albert Schweitzer, “True philosophy must start from the most…”

“True philosophy must start from the most immediate and comprehensive fact of consciousness, and this may be formulated as follows: ‘I am life which wills to live, and I exist in the midst of life which wills to live.”
Albert Schweitzer

Who was Albert Schweitzer?

Albert Schweitzer (January 14, 1875-September 4, 1965) was born into an Alsatian family which for generations had been devoted to religion, music, and education. His father and maternal grandfather were ministers; both of his grandfathers were talented organists; many of his relatives were persons of scholarly attainments.

Read more:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1952/schweitzer/biographical/

Read in detail along with further quotes about Albert Schweitzer’s influence on animal rights

Animal Rights: A History, Albert Schweithzer

“Albert Schweitzer developed a philosophy which he called a “Reverence for Life”, for which he received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize; he considered this philosophy his greatest contribution to mankind. He thought that Western civilisations were decaying as a result of the abandonment of its ethical foundation, namely the affirmation of and respect for life. Reverence for life was an essential part of Schweitzer’s personal Philosophy which he hoped would be made known throughout the world by means of his books and talks and through his own example.”

Read more
http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/animal-rights-a-history-albert-schweither.html

Animal Rights: Jean Paul,” Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers or wings, it is,…

“Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account?”
Jean Paul

Who is Jean Paul?

Jean Paul, born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825) was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories.

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Paul

Animal Rights: Thomas A. Edison, ” Non violence leads to the highest ethics,…”

“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

Who was Thomas A. Edison ?

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America’s greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison

Animal Rights: Albert Schweitzer, “The man who has become a thinking being …”

“The man who has become a thinking being feels a compulsion to give every will-to-live the same reverence for life that he gives to his own. He experiences that other life in his own.”
Albert Schweitzer

Who was Albert Schweitzer?

Albert Schweitzer (January 14, 1875-September 4, 1965) was born into an Alsatian family which for generations had been devoted to religion, music, and education. His father and maternal grandfather were ministers; both of his grandfathers were talented organists; many of his relatives were persons of scholarly attainments.

Read More:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1952/schweitzer/biographical/

Albert Schweitzer, animal rights and a reverence for life

Albert Schweitzer developed a philosophy which he called a “Reverence for Life”, for which he received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize; he considered this philosophy his greatest contribution to mankind. He thought that Western civilisations were decaying as a result of the abandonment of its ethical foundation, namely the affirmation of and respect for life. Reverence for life was an essential part of Schweitzer’s personal Philosophy which he hoped would be made known throughout the world by means of his books and talks and through his own example.

“At sunset of the third day, near the village of Igendja, we moved along an island set in the middle of the wide river. On a sandback to our left, four hippopotamuses and their young plodded along in our same direction. Just then, in my great tiredness and discouragement, the phrase, Reverence for Life, struck me like a flash. As far as I knew, it was a phrase I had never heard nor ever read. I realized at once that it carried within itself the solution to the problem that had been torturing me. Now I knew that a system of values which concerns itself only with our relationship to other people is incomplete and therefore lacking in power for good. Only by means of reverence for life can we establish a spiritual and humane relationship with both people and all living creatures within our reach. Only in this fashion can we avoid harming others, and, within the limits our our capacity, go to their aid whenever they need us.”

Read more:
http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/animal-rights-a-history-albert-schweither.html

Reverence for Life , Albert Schweitzer

Animal Rights: Linda McCartney, ” We Stopped eating meat many years ago.”

“We stopped eating meat many years ago. During the course of a Sunday lunch we   happened to look out of the kitchen window at our young lambs playing happily in the   fields. Glancing down at our plates, we suddenly realized that we were eating the leg of  an animal who had until recently been playing in a field herself. We looked at each other and said, “Wait a minute, we love these sheep-they’re such gentle creatures. So why are we eating them?” It was the last time we ever did.”

Linda McCartney

Who was Linda McCartney?

“Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, and entrepreneur. She was best known as the first wife of Paul McCartney of the Beatles and for her photographs of celebrities and contemporary musicians.”

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McCartney

Take Action – Change to a Vegan Diet

The Vegan Society

How to Go Vegan:
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/how-go-vegan

 

Animal Rights: George Orwell,” Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not…””…

“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.”
George Orwell, Animal Farm

Who was George Orwell?

Eric Arthur Blair, known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, biting social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism.

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell