Quotes About Animals

I love using my imagination. I love writing about animals.

Dick Van Patten

Primitive hunters5 regard animals as similar to men but endowed with supernatural powers; they believe that a man can change into an animal and vice versa; that the souls of the dead can enter animals; finally, that mysterious relations exist between a certain person and a certain animal (this used to be termed "nagualism").

In western Europe they are distinctly poorer than the grandiose creations of the Upper Paleolithic. By contrast, in Southwest Asia, and especially in Palestine, the Mesolithic constitutes an axial period: it is the time of the domestication of the first animals and the beginnings of agriculture.

It is not just humans who are musical. Animals, too. This should be obvious in the thousands of birdsongs I have spawned, or the clicking of dolphins, or the moaning of humpback whales.

Animals not only make music, they hear it in unique fashion.

Then, in Annie's new grasp, Cleo's womanly frame shrank down. Her coat tightened and became her fur. Her legs pulled in. Her ears and snout elongated. She was revealed as the puppy she used to be on earth, and she panted as Annie held her up and said, "There you are. Cleo. Cleee-o!

Los que para con los animales son sanguinarios denuncian su naturaleza propensa a la crueldad.

The cows were all running around their pen in manic terror.

There are many things Rainey does not understand: war, and running with the bulls, for two examples. Why get anywhere near herds of bulls and irritate them in the first place? Why is this popular? She would prefer to be liked by bulls--to meet them in a placid zone and stare at one another.

Infants prefer to look at dots that move in biological patterns rather than random ones. They will look longer at geometrical shapes that seem to be self-propelled than ones that seem to move passively. Children also have a bias toward life in the way they learn: they can learn about animals faster than inanimate objects, and they hold on to the memories of what they learn longer. Our knowledge of life, in other words, arises long before we can tell ourselves what we know.

They wept no animal's tears. They mourned in a great wickerwork of hard muscle and ragged breath. The hot smell of their coats, their black lips pulled back over ivory teeth, stiff sprays of white whiskers; their heavy hair plaited with silver and faience. Their thick hides shivered, as cattle will shiver away flies. I sweated and tried not to clear my throat.

That is no metaphorical statement, he said. I mean what I say. Big animals like that have the capacity to read thoughts. And I don't mean guess. I mean they know everything directly.

Finn slipped an arm around her waist and squeezed. We've got to keep them, Callie. I'm already attached to the critters. We talkin' about Angel and Pistol or the kids? The whole lot of them. Verdie included. A ranch is just dirt without kids and animals even if they knock over Christmas trees and fall in mud and cow shit. But it needs a good woman, too. You callin' me a good woman, or are you going to put an ad in the newspaper for one? she asked.

We can believe in hierarchy. We can believe the universe was made just for us. Hierarchy and a major sense of entitlement are not insurmountable problems. The problem occurs when we treat those whom we believe lie beneath us as slaves. Religion once sustained human slavery. It was wrong then. When it blindly sanctions the slavery of every nonhuman animal, it is wrong now.

If we understand "rights" to be legal protection against harm, then many animals already do have rights, and the idea of animal rights is not terribly controversial.

Humans, with the arrogance of a supposedly superior species (tell that to your cat!), expect domestic animals to fit into their lifestyle. They bring cats into their homes and expect them to follow a human timetable and human rules.

You see, animals don't follow unstable pack leaders; only humans promote, follow, and praise instability.

It's a natural thing for a human to feel sympathy for another animal who's in distress, but dogs don't need our sympathy. They need our leadership.

Unlike humans, who have the power (or curse) of denial to keep them in an abusive situation, animals will always move toward balance. Automatically, the brain says, "Hey, finally I get a rest." They are relieved to be out of that state of constant tension.

Humans are the only species on earth that will follow a totally unbalanced, unstable leader. Animals, however—though I believe they possess an emotional and spiritual side—will only follow instinctual leaders.

I have delivered lambs, calves and foals on our farms over the years.

I seem to be landing a lot of roles with animal interactions, which is amazing.

Most Americans, like most Japanese, view their dogs, cats, and other animal companions as family members, and rightly so.