Loading “Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals, “love” them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more.” - Edwin Way Teale
“Humans were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another. “ - Tom Robbins “You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about—the more you have left when anything happens.” - Ethel Barrymore “The soul that has no established aim loses itself.” - Michel de Montaigne “One kills a man, one is an assassin; one kills millions, one is a conqueror’ one kills everybody, one is a god.” - Jean Rostand “...there is no difference between one’s killing and one’s making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing, or even worse.” - Golda Meir “The purpose of human life is to serve and show compassion and the will to help others.” - Albert Schweitzer |
“If animals are deprived of hope (as well as of fear), they are compensated by being given an almost endless patience for enduring, or simply waiting.” - Joseph Wood Krutch
“Whenever you observe an animal closely, you feel as if a human being sitting inside were making fun of you.” - Elias Caneto “Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass not criticisms.” - George Eliot There are two things for which animals are to be envied: they know nothing of future evils, or what people say about them. ‘ - Voltaire 
“You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.” - Publilius Syrius
“We live very close together. So, our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” - Dalai Lama |
“In all
things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” - Aristotle (384 BC -
322 BC), Parts of Animals
“The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.” - Zeno (335 BC - 264 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” - Rachel Carson. “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” - Jawaharlal Nehru From “Sacred Elephants” by Heathcote Williams The shape of an African elephant’s ear Is the shape of Africa. The shape of an Indian elephant’s ear Is the shape of India… As if nature had kept an ear to the ground When listening to the elephant’s territorial requests The Romans believed the elephant was a religious animal; Pliny observed it “worshipping the sun and stars, And purifying itself at the new moon, Bathing in the river, and invoking the heavens.” In the last decade Six out of ten elephants in Africa Have been massacred; And the entire population may soon be shovelled contemptuously Into the realm of mythology. In the mind’s eye of a child And elephant Should now be more accurately depicted As a mutilated corpse. GMP Publisher’s Note: This poem first appeared on GMP when the ivory trade was made illegal and we had included the following note when first exhibited in The Poetic Heart. - “This poem was written when the trade in ivory was still legal. It reminds us of the threat the ivory industry poses to these magnificent animals, and warns us that this trade should never again be legal.” Now the ivory trade has become legal again, we see mass slaughter of these beautiful creatures. Elephants may disappear from the face of the earth during our life time. Will humanity ever learn from its’ previous mistakes? “If we do not learn from our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them.” Excerpt from The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls. |
“There are no ordinary cats. “ - Colette (1873 – 1954)
Who can believe that there is no soul behind Those luminous eyes! - Theophile Gautier (1811 – 71) “The cat is a dilettante in fur.” - Theophile Gautier (1811 – 72) “Cats are mysterious beings…gods of the Pharaohs. You never know if they love you or if they condescend to occupy your house. This mystery is what makes them the most attractive beast.” - Paul More – Episcopal bishop of New York. For I rejoice in my cat Matty. For his coat is variegated black and brown, with white undersides. For in every way his whiskers are marvellous.- Gavin Ewart (1916 – 95) Like those great sphinxes lounging through eternity In noble attitudes upon desert sand Cats gaze incuriously at nothing – calm and wise. - Charles Baudelaire (1822 – 67) Tearaway kitten or staid mother of fifty Persian, Chinchilla, Siamese Or backstreet brawler – you all have a tiger in your blood And eyes as opaque as the sacred mysteries Cecil Day Lewis (1904 – 72) Cat In Ancient Egypt, they were worshiped as gods. This makes them too prone to set themselves up as critics and censors of the frail and erring human beings whose lot they share.— P.G. Wodehouse (1885 -1975) If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.—- Doris Lessing “Even the most overweight cats instinctively know the cardinal rule: When fat, arrange yourself in slim poses.” - John Weitz “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.”- Frank Lloyd Wright (1869 - 1959) “What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it.” - Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904 - 1991) “I allow my cats to express themselves, never interfere with their romances and raise them with dogs to broaden their outlook.” - Murray Robinson “Cats can be very funny, and have the oddest ways of showing they’re glad to see you.” - W.H. Auden (1907 – 73) “When I play with my cat Who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her?” - Michel De Montaigne (1533 – 92) Under the leaves Of a morning glory Cat’s eyes. Natsume Soseki (1887 – 1916) Zen Haiku Passing year Our cat plays By the water. - Chung Keido (1860 – 1912 ) Haiku It’s too deep To go across, besides I can’t swim - Netsume Soseki (1867 – 1916 Zen Haiku about cats After the butterfly’s gone It settles down: A kitten - Netsume Soseki |
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