Animals and Nature
If thy heart were right,
then every creature would be a mirror of life
and a book of holy doctrine.
There is no creature so small and abject,
but it reflects the goodness of God.
Thomas a' Kempis
The soul is the same in all living creatures,
although the body of each is different.
Hippocrates
Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul
remains unawakened.
Anatole France
The time will come when men such as I will look upon
the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Our task must be to free ourselves...by widening our circle
of compassion to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature and its beauty.
Albert Einstein
The point of the dragonfly's terrible lip, the giant water bug, birdsong,
or the beautiful dazzle and flash of sun-lighted minnows,
is not that it all fits together like clockwork -
for it doesn't particularly, no even inside the goldfish bowl -
but that it all flows so freely wild, like the creek, that it all
surges in such a free, fringed tangle.
Freedom is the world's water and weather,
the world's nourishment freely given,
its soil and sap: and the creator loves pizzazz.
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
I thank You God for most this amazing day:
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural
which is infinite
which is yes
e. e. cummings
Mountains are giant, restful, absorbent.
You can heave your spirit into a mountain
and the mountain will keep it folded, and not
throw it back as some creeks will.
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
The
greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make
a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not
scold you, but he will make a fool
of himself too.
Samuel Butler
If dogs are not there, it is not heaven.
Elisabeth M. Thomas