The Only Animal Quotes

The news I bring is to say that, man being the only animal who hates himself, the likely fate of the world is total self-destruction. ~ Hanif Kureishi

And so we see the paradox that evolution has handed us. If man is the only animal whose consciousness of self gives him an unusual dignity in the animal kingdom, he also pays a tragic price for it. The fact that the child has to identify -first- means that his very first identity is a social product. His habitation of his own body is built from the outside in; not from the inside out. He doesn't unfold into the world, the world unfolds into him. As the child responds to the vocal symbols learned from his object, he often gives the pathetic impression of being a true social puppet, jerked by alien symbols and sounds. What sensitive parent does not have his satisfaction tinged with sadness as the child repeats with such vital earnestness the little symbols that are taught him? ~ Ernest Becker

He said that man's heart was the only bad heart in the animal kingdom; that man was the only animal capable of feeling malice, envy, vindictiveness, revengefulness, hatred, selfishness, the only animal that loves drunkenness, almost the only animal that could endure personal uncleanliness and a filthy habitation, the sole animal in whom was fully developed the base instinct called patriotism, the sole animal that robs, persecutes, oppresses and kills members of his own tribe, the sole animal that steals and enslaves the members of any tribe. ~ Mark Twain

Man is not the only animal known to practice cannibalism. He is, however, the only animal capable of arranging it on a plate so it is pleasing to the eye."

The adage 'It's only fun until someone loses an eye' isn't true...
The fun quotient is exactly the same- your viewpoint is skewed. ~ David Raffin

They say that cats are the only animal that can sit in your lap and ignore you. To which I say: you've never been to the Spearmint Rhino. ~ Dana Gould

Seahorses are Luna's favorite animal because the male seahorse is the only animal in nature to carry the baby and not the mother. The male seahorse is the one to incubate the offspring. To fall pregnant. To nest. ~ L.J. Shen

Man is the only animal who enjoys the consolation of believing in a next life; all other animals enjoy the consolation of not worrying about it. ~ Robert Breault

New Rule: A dog is the only animal that can get you laid. No offense, parrot guy, but it's not gonna happen. When women see you, they're not thinking, "I bet that guy is interesting," they're thinking, "That bird better not shit on my dress. ~ Bill Maher

Philosophers have often looked for the defining feature of humans - language, rationality, culture, and so on. I'd stick with this: Man is the only animal that likes Tabasco sauce. ~ Paul Bloom

Carcharadon carcharias. Six thousand
pounds of muscle powering a hoop
of butcher's knives. The only animal
that ate its weaker siblings in the womb.
Immune from cancer. Constantly awake. ~ Mark Haddon

Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor. ~ Thomas Jefferson

You are judging demons and beasts unfairly. The only animal capable of such cruelty walks on two legs and arrogantly thinks that he was created in image of God. ~ Juraj Cervenak

Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied. ~ Henry George

Man is the only animal that strikes his women-folk. ~ Jeannie Gunn

Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out ... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel ... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man with his mouth. ~ Mark Twain

Man is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight ~ Mark Twain

You know, until I caught a reference in an ancient manuscript, I thought cows were about the size of a chicken." Chickens and fish being the only animal life aboard, I'd thought so too until this moment. "You mean they're not?" He shook his head, and his hands sketched improbable dimensions. Now Ennio was frowning. "So . . . The rhymes were altered. I wonder why? ~ Les Johnson

The pig is the most shameless animal on the face of the earth. It is the only animal that invites its friends to have sex with its mate. In America, most people consume pork. Many times after dance parties, they have swapping of wives; many say 'you sleep with my wife and I will sleep with your wife.' If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs. ~ Zakir Naik

One of the most thoughtless statements, parroted ad nauseam ever since rational concern for our environment exploded into an emotional syndrome, calls Man the only animal that soils its own nest. Every animal soils its nest with the products of its metabolism if unable to move away. Space technology gives us for the first time the freedom to leave our nest, at least for certain functions, in order not to soil it. ~ Krafft Arnold Ehricke

Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to. ~ Mark Twain

Man is the only animal that can be skinned more than once. ~ Jimmy Durante

These poor beasts are driven solely by their need to survive and to feed. It is their nature, and their nature has made them predictable. But man, on the other hand, has the capacity to change his nature. Man is the only animal that can destroy the world. Beasts live only in the present, but humans have the capacity to live for the future, to lay down plans for their children and grandchildren, plans that can take years, decades, even centuries, to mature. ~ Michael Scott

Men! The only animal in the world to fear. ~ D.H. Lawrence

Furless now, upright, My banished
and experimental
child
You said, though your own heart condemn you
I do not condemn you. ~ Franz Wright

Man is the only animal that can be bored. ~ Erich Fromm

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Humans are the only animal who can have sex over the phone. ~ David Letterman

When humans act with cruelty we characterize them as "animals", yet the only animal that displays cruelty is humanity. ~ Anthony D. Williams

man is the only animal that is clever enough to build the empire state building and stupid enough to jump off. ~ Rock Hudson

Man is the only animal to borrow tools. ~ Tim Allen

The horses wore no gear at all but a halter without bit. Their manes were braided with streamers of silver, gold, and green. They flared their nostrils and pranced and boasted to one another; they were vastly excited, the horse being the only animal who has adopted our ceremonies as his own. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

How many times do we pay for one mistake? The answer is thousands of times. The human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake. The rest of the animals pay once for every mistake they make. But not us. We have a powerful memory. We make a mistake, we judge ourselves, we find ourselves guilty, and we punish ourselves. If justice exists, then that was enough; we don't need to do it again. But every time we remember, we judge ourselves again, we are guilty again, and we punish ourselves again, and again, and again. If we have a wife or husband he or she also reminds us of the mistake, so we can judge ourselves again, punish ourselves again, and find ourselves guilty again. Is this fair? ~ Miguel Ruiz

[Man] is the only animal who lives outside of himself, whose drive is in external things - property, houses, money, concepts of power. He lives in his cities and his factories, in his business and job and art. But having projected himself into these external complexities, he is them. His house, his automobile are a part of him and a large part of him. This is beautifully demonstrated by a thing doctors know - that when a man loses his possessions a very common result is sexual impotence. ~ John Steinbeck

We are not the only animal that mourns; apes do, and elephants, and dogs. Yet we are the only one that tortures. ~ Geraldine Brooks

Man is the only animal that contemplates death, and also the only animal that shows any sign of doubt of its finality. ~ William Ernest Hocking

If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, judges and governors shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind. Jefferson ~ Jon Meacham

The cat is the only animal which accepts the comforts but rejects the bondage of domesticity. ~ Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De Buffon

Having culture means we are the only animal that acquires the rules of its daily living from the accumulated knowledge of our ancestors, rather than from the genes they pass to us. ~ Mark Pagel

Man is the only animal species capable of conceiving the notion of his own disappearance, and the only one capable of the despair that notion brings. What a strange race: so savagely determined to destroy itself, so savagely intent on preserving itself. ~ Robert Merle

My mother used to say there are two kinds of people in this world:

Those who want, and those who take.

Most of us are sheep who spend our lives in want. We follow the path worn smooth and velvety from the hooves before us. There's no need for leashes or fences - we call those things law and morality. Man is the only animal that can reason and all he does with reason is shackle himself. We eat what we're fed and we fuck what we can't outrun and it's never what we dream about but it dulls the screaming edge of desire just enough. Enough so we keep our heads down, our eyes on the ground. Our fetters are fashioned from conformity and fear.

But sometimes an animal can't be contained. Sometimes a head lifts from the herd and a wolfish intelligence kindles, the nostrils flaring, the eyes catching sickles of moonlight and a hot, earthy breath clotting the cold air, and someone realizes there's really nothing stopping us from taking whatever we want.

And everything is prey. ~ Leah Raeder

If anything like this is true, then we would be denied even our self-congratulatory distinction of being the only animal that makes self-congratulatory distinctions. ~ Carl Sagan

Man is the only animal who does not feel at home in nature, who can feel evicted from paradise, the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem that he has to solve and from which he cannot escape. He cannot go back to the prehuman state of harmony with nature, and he does not know where he will arrive if he goes forward. Man's existential contradiction results in a state of constant disequilibrium. This disequilibrium distinguishes him from the animal, which lives, as it were, in harmony with nature. ~ Erich Fromm

Man is the only animal that strives to be more than he is....it is the indomitable spirit within that makes him human. ~ Steven Lang

Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion
several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven ... The higher animals have no religion. And we are told that they are going to be left out in the Hereafter. I wonder why? It seems questionable taste. ~ Mark Twain

Man is the only animal who is prone to insanity. ~ Colin Wilson

Americans! They want to go 600 miles an hour, and they don't know how to walk! Look at them in the street. Bent over. Coughing! Young men with gray faces! Why can't they look at the animals? Look at a cat. Look at any animal. The only animal that doesn't hold its stomach in is the pig. ~ Joseph Pilates

Man is the only animal on earth intelligent enough to invent God and foolish enough to believe in Him. ~ Manoj Vaz

Man is the only animal that knows he's going to die, so we invent a heaven to keep from going crazy. Most people are hypnotized by organized religion from Childhood. ~ Grace Slick

Man is the only animal which causes pain to others with no other object than causing pain ... No animal ever torments another for the sake of tormenting: but man does so, and it is this which constitutes the diabolical nature which is far worse than the merely bestial ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Man seems to be the only animal whose food soils him, making necessary much washing and shield-like bibs and napkins. Moles living in the earth and eating slimy worms are yet as clean as seals or fishes, whose lives are one perpetual wash. ~ John Muir

The abortion industry can try to improve its 'messaging' all it wants. But unless abortion advocates change their devotion to abortion-on-demand, the only message Americans will receive is that the abortion industry is only really interested in improving its bottom line at the expense of the most defenseless among us. ~ Gary Bauer

The history of mankind would be far too stupid a thing if it had not had the intellect [Geist] of the powerless injected into it: - let us take the best example straight away. Nothing that has been done on earth against 'the noble', 'the mighty', 'the masters' and 'the rulers', is worth mentioning compared with what the Jews have done against them: the Jews, that priestly people, which in the last resort was able to gain satisfaction from its enemies and conquerors only through a radical revaluation of their values, that is, through an act of the most deliberate revenge. Only this was fitting for a priestly people with the most entrenched priestly vengefulness. It was the Jews who, rejecting the aristocratic value equation (good = noble = powerful = beautiful = happy = blessed) ventured, with awe-inspiring consistency, to bring about a reversal and held it in the teeth of the most unfathomable hatred (the hatred of the powerless), saying: 'Only those who suffer are good, only the poor, the powerless, the lowly are good; the suffering, the deprived, the sick, the ugly, are the only pious people, the only ones saved, salvation is for them alone, whereas you rich, the noble and powerful, you are eternally wicked, cruel, lustful, insatiate, godless, you will also be eternally wretched, cursed and damned!' . . . the slaves' revolt in morality begins with the Jews: a revolt which has two thousand years of history behind it and which has only been lost sight of because - it was ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The only excuse a man has for writing is that he express himself, that he reveal to others the kind of world reflected in the mirror of his soul; his only excuse is that he be original. ~ Remy De Gourmont

The only thing hotter than you straddling me is you straddling my bike. ~ M. Never

What is at work in this report is the reduction of language to code. Cliches, coined by the state, become the only acceptable vocabulary. Everyone knows what to say and how to respond. It is scripted. Vocabulary shrinks so that the tyranny of nationalist rhetoric leaves people sputtering state-sanctioned slogans. ~ Chris Hedges

The first category comprised those for whom books were the only breath of fresh air in their claustrophobic daily lives. His favorite customers. They ~ Nina George

Sylvia wanted me to resent Hannah because she was dating Dylan. She wanted me to be jealous of her because Hannah had the affection and attention of the only guy I'd ever really liked. Sylvia had no freakin' clue. I couldn't allow myself to begin hating Hannah Swift. If I started down that path, I'd never, ever stop. ~ Viv Daniels

If the only way you can build an emergency fund is to pay the minimum due on your credit card, that is what you need to do. ~ Suze Orman

The only place that's holier than St. Andrews is Westminster Abbey. ~ Sam Snead

The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it! ~ Leonard Ravenhill

If being stupid is the only way for an intelligent man to be happy, then let us hope that unhappiness be his choice! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

The only thing mothers have in common with each other is the fact that they slept with a man while they were ovulating without the appropriate protection ~ Audur Ava Olafsdottir

Every man has to die. Choosing oblivion is the only way of triumphing over this. ~ Shan Sa

The only problems I've ever had with being honest is telling people how I feel about them or saying how I feel about other people. ~ Pink

The only thing that kept the Cold War cold was the mutual deterrence afforded by nuclear weapons. ~ Chung Mong-joon

The only way I can describe the extent of my anxiety is to say that I felt as if I were pregnant with a rock. ~ Katharine Graham

Was it possible that Ranulph, too, was a real person, a person inside whose mind things happened? He had thought that he himself was the only real person in a field of human flowers. For Master Nathaniel that was a moment of surprise, triumph, tenderness, alarm. ~ Hope Mirrlees

Surrender is not the best way to live; it is the only way to live. Nothing else works. ~ Rick Warren

All last year we tried to teach him (Fernando Valenzuela) English, and the only word he learned was million. ~ Tommy Lasorda

The only way I'd ever recruit a white quarterback to play for me is if his mom and daddy would both have to be black, and that's the only way I would do it. ~ Barry Switzer

The poor are the only consistent altruists; they sell all they have and give it to the rich. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Rethink Your Success Mindset: At the end of your life, the only things that really matter ... are matters of your heart. ~ Tony Dovale

It was as though they had been plunged into a fabulous dream.
This, thought Harry, was surely the only way to travel - past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat pack of toffees in the glove compartment ... ~ J.K. Rowling

The only characters I ever don't like are ones that leave no impression on me. And I don't write characters that leave no impression on me. ~ Lauren DeStefano

The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. - Steve Jobs ~ Clayton M Christensen

For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes,
And hold-fast is the only dog. ~ William Shakespeare

I must be the only player in the world who ever injured himself for a tournament by stepping on a shell on the beach. I don't know what I'm going to do. ~ Goran Ivanisevic

We know what you are thinking. It is not girls who need lessons in how to talk on the telephone.
We are experts at it.
Some of us could even medal in it.
The problem is the boys. And they need to shape up.
True, true, true.
However.
The boys are not going to shape up. They are not going to read magazines or informational textbooks such as this one that tell them how to talk to girls on the telephone. And they are not going to magically figure out how to converse either. It is a demonstrated fact that even bona fide boyfriends such as Finn and Jackson and Kaleb are hit with paralyzing stupidity and boringness on the telephone, and you, my girlfriends, you are the only ones who can do anything about it.
Some tried-and-true tips
1. No feelings. Not if you can possibly avoid it. Feelings in person only.
2. No long silences. The male of the species hates long silences. If he is silent, say, "I gotta go, I'll see you later." And hang up. This is mysterious and alluring. And if it is not, at least you don't have any more awkwardness.
3. Some people will tell you that you shouldn't call guys, you should wait for them to call you. Hello? This is the twenty-first century. We can call them.
4. But have a reason. Don't call "just to talk," because they have nothing to talk about. Have a story to tell them, or ask if they watched some TV show just now, or ask about homework, or make a plan for the weekend. ~ E. Lockhart

The little ones are the only good human beings. ~ Stephen King

The only people who make any sense in the world are those who know that whatever happens to them has its roots in what they are. ~ Robertson Davies

God will and can be known in no other way than in and through Christ according to the statement of John 1:18, "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Christ is the only means whereby we can know God and His will. In Christ we perceive that God is not a cruel judge, but a most loving and merciful Father who to bless and to save us "spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all." This is truly to know God. ~ Martin Luther

Paris is the playwright's delight. New York is the home of directors. London, however, is the actor's city, the only one in the world. In London, actors are given their head. ~ Orson Welles

Tis the only comfort of the miserable to have partners in their woes. ~ Miguel De Cervantes

Strength and success - they are above morality, above criticism. It seems, then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it. Is there a check in men, deep in them, that stops or punishes? There doesn't seem to be. The only punishment is for failure. In effect no crime is committed unless a criminal is caught. ~ John Steinbeck

Yes! the books - the generous friends who met me without suspicion - the merciful masters who never used me ill! The only years of my life that I can look back on with something like pride ... Early and late, through the long winter nights and the quiet summer days, I drank at the fountain of knowledge, and never wearied of the draught. ~ Wilkie Collins

The goal of spiritual practice is full recovery, and the only thing you need to recover from is a fractured sense of self. ~ Marianne Williamson

The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~ Harvey Specter

The only difference between street fighting and boxing is there a ref there from stopping me from killing you ~ Marvin Hagler

And I thought how many satisfied, happy people really do exist in this world! And what a powerful force they are! Just take a look at this life of ours and you will see the arrogance and idleness of the strong, the ignorance and bestiality of the weak. Everywhere there's unspeakable poverty, overcrowding, degeneracy, drunkenness, hypocrisy and stupid lies... And yet peace and quiet reign in every house and street. Out of fifty thousand people you won't find one who is prepared to shout out loud and make a strong protest. We see people buying food in the market, eating during the day, sleeping at night-time, talking nonsense, marrying, growing old and then contentedly carting their dead off to the cemetery. But we don't hear or see those who suffer: the real tragedies of life are enacted somewhere behind the scenes. Everything is calm and peaceful and the only protest comes from statistics - and they can't talk. Figures show that so many went mad, so many bottles of vodka were emptied, so many children died from malnutrition. And clearly this kind of system is what people need. It,s obvious that the happy man feels contented only because the unhappy ones bear their burden without saying a word: if it weren't for their silence, happiness would be quite impossible. It's a kind of mass hypnosis. Someone ought to stand with a hammer at the door of every contented man, continually banging on it to remind him that there are unhappy people around and that however happy he may be at t ~ Anton Chekhov

The only woman I have to be better than is the one I was yesterday...I have no competition. ~ Dawn Jasper

The only promise of childhood is that it will end. ~ Richard Paul Evans

I didn't get here based on lineage, Travis. I'm here because I work hard. The only thing that's blue in my family lineage are the collars. The blood is just red. ~ Maisey Yates

Ritualism is nothing more than a rut and the only difference between a rut and a grave is the length and the depth. ~ Chuck Smith