Marc Bekoff Quotes

All animals, including humans, have a right to lives of dignity and respect, without forced intrusions.

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Dignity, Intrusion

Marc Bekoff (2010). “The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint”, p.23, New World Library

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Animals are not property or "things" but rather living organisms, subjects of a life, who are worthy of our compassion, respect, friendship, and support.

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Compassion, Support

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.72, Shambhala Publications

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Dominion does not mean domination. We hold dominion over animals only because of our powerful and ubiquitous intellect. Not because we are morally superior. Not because we have a "right" to exploit those who cannot defend themselves. Let us use our brain to move toward compassion and away from cruelty, to feel empathy rather than cold indifference, to feel animals' pain in our hearts.

Marc Bekoff

Pain, Powerful, Moving

Marc Bekoff (2013). “Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation”, p.310, New World Library

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Although other animals may be different from us, this does not make them LESS than us

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Doe, Different

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.24, Shambhala Publications

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Often, the greater our ignorance about something, the greater our resistance to change.

Marc Bekoff

Ignorance, Resistance, Resistance To Change

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.167, Shambhala Publications

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Let us remember that animals are not mere resources for human consumption. They are splendid beings in their own right, who have evolved alongside us as co-inheritors of all the beauty and abundance of life on this planet

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Remember, Abundance

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.19, Shambhala Publications

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Make ethical choices in what we buy, do, and watch. In a consumer-driven society our individual choices, used collectively for the good of animals and nature, can change the world faster than laws.

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Law, Individual Choice

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.171, Shambhala Publications

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When animals express their feelings they pour out like water from a spout. Animals' emotions are raw, unfiltered, and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious of joys and their grief the deepest and most devastating. Their passions bring us to our knees in delight and sorrow.

Marc Bekoff

Motivational, Grief, Passion

Marc Bekoff (2010). “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter”, p.19, New World Library

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Compassion begets compassion, cruelty begets cruelty. What we give we will ultimately receive. Nonhumans help make us human. They teach us respect, compassion, and unconditional love. When we mistreat animals, we mistreat ourselves. When we destroy animal spirits and souls, we destroy our own spirits and souls.

Marc Bekoff

Unconditional Love, Animal, Compassion

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Humans are a part of nature, not apart from nature.

Marc Bekoff

Vegetarian, Vegan, Humans

Marc Bekoff (2002). “Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, and Heart”, p.188, Oxford University Press

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Hunting and fishing involve killing animals with devices (such as guns) for which the animals have not evolved natural defenses. No animal on earth has adequate defense against a human armed with a gun, a bow and arrow, a trap that can maim, a snare that can strangle, or a fishing lure designed for the sole purpose of fooling fish into thinking they have found something to eat

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Gun, Thinking

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Without close and reciprocal relationships with other animal beings, we're alienated from the rich, diverse, and magnificent world in which we live.

Marc Bekoff

Animal, World, Relationships With Others

Marc Bekoff (2010). “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter”, p.24, New World Library

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Human beings are a part of the animal kingdom, not apart from it. The separation of "us" and "them" creates a false picture and is responsible for much suffering. It is part of the in-group/out-group mentality that leads to human oppression of the weak by the strong as in ethic, religious, political, and social conflicts.

Marc Bekoff

Religious, Strong, Animal

Marc Bekoff (2013). “Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation”, p.310, New World Library

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Lacking a shared language, emotions are perhaps our most effective means of cross-species communication. We can share our emotions, we can understand the language of feelings, and that's why we form deep and enduring social bonds with many other beings. Emotions are the glue that binds.

Marc Bekoff

Communication, Mean, Feelings

Marc Bekoff (2010). “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter”, p.15, New World Library

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Many animals experience pain, anxiety and suffering, physically and psychologically, when they are held in captivity or subjected to starvation, social isolation, physical restraint, or painful situations from which they cannot escape. Even if it is not the same experience of pain, anxiety, or suffering undergone by humans- or even other animals, including members of the same species- an individual's pain, suffering, and anxiety matter.

Marc Bekoff

Pain, Animal, Anxiety

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.67, Shambhala Publications

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A reduction of meat consumption by only 10% would result in about 12 million more tons of grain for human consumption. This additional grain could feed all of the humans across the world who starve to death each year- about 60 million people!

Marc Bekoff

Meat Consumption, Years, People

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.119, Shambhala Publications

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It's bad biology to rob nonhuman animals of their emotional lives.

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Emotional, Biology

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Animals are not resources or property with whom we can do what we please, their lives matter very much, and they should be firmly entrenched in our moral community. Accepting the notion of ‘animal guardian’ to replace ‘pet owner’ will go a long way towards making the lives of our companions much better and richer.

Marc Bekoff

Animal, Long, Community

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We must remain hopeful that a universal ethic of courage, caring, sharing, respect, radical compassion, and love will make a difference even if we do not see the positive results of our efforts... We can never be too generous or too kind.

Marc Bekoff

Caring, Compassion, Differences

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The plural of anecdote is not data.

Marc Bekoff

Wisdom, Science, Data

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Some people say they love animals and yet harm them nonetheless; I'm glad those people don't love me.

Marc Bekoff

Animal, People, Harm

Marc Bekoff (2010). “The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint”, p.172, New World Library

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These enthusiasts often like to hang signs that say "Gone Fishin'" or "Gone Huntin'". But what these slogans really mean is "Gone Killing.

Marc Bekoff

Mean, Lakes, Sea

Marc Bekoff (2007). “Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect”, p.120, Shambhala Publications

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I would like to believe that it is, and will continue to be, human compassion for other beings that will result in our giving them the protection they deserve, because of who they are, not because of what they can do for us or because some law tells us what we have to do.

Marc Bekoff

Believe, Compassion, Law

"Who Lives and Who Dies: We All Care About Animals, Right?" by Marc Bekoff, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 21, 2010.

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Born: September 6, 1945
Occupation: Professor
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