The Vegetarian Quotes

The vegetarian movement ought to fill with gladness the souls of those who have at heart the realization of God's kingdom upon earth, not because vegetarianism itself is such an important step towards the realization of this kingdom (all real steps are equally important or unimportant), but because it serves as a criterion by which we know that the pursuit of moral perfection on the part of man is genuine and sincere. ~ Leo Tolstoy

In a situation where flesh is consumed, vegetarians inevitably call attention to themselves. They have made something absent on their plates; perhaps a verbal demurral has been required as well. They then are drawn into a discussion regarding their vegetarianism. Frequently, there will be someone present who actually feels hostile to vegetarianism and regards it as a personal challenge. If this is the case, all sorts of outrageous issues are thrown out to see how the vegetarian will handle them. The vegetarian, enthusiastic reformer, sees the opportunity as one of education; but it is not. instead it is a teasing game of manipulation. At times, ludicrous questions are raised; they imply that the entire discussion is ludicrous. ~ Carol J. Adams

She hadn't understood what that cold moisture had been trying to say, as it drenched her battered body and spread through her dried-up veins. It had simply leached through into her flesh, down to her very bones. ~ Han Kang, The Vegetarian

I have dreams too, you know. Dreams…and I could let myself dissolve
into them, let them take me over…but surely the dream isn't all there is? We have to wake up at some
point, don't we? Because…because then… ~ Han Kang

The symbolism of meat-eating is never neutral. To himself, the meat-eater seems to be eating life. To the vegetarian, he seems to be eating death. There is a kind of gestalt-shift between the two positions which makes it hard to change, and hard to raise questions on the matter at all without becoming embattled. ~ Mary Midgley

In trying to find out what Bruno thought of his priesthood, we now have a serious problem which we did not have before. In Venice, he told his fellow-prisoners that he was an enemy of the mass, and thought transubstantiation a ridiculous idea and the Catholic ritual bestial and blasphemous. He compared the elevation of the host to hanging somebody on a gallows, or perhaps to lifting him up on a pitchfork. He told somebody who had dreamt of going to mass that that was a terrible omen; and he performed a mock mass with Ovid's Art of Love instead of a missal. He joked about hungry priests going off from mass to a good breakfast. He spoke particularly ill of the mass as a sacrifice, and said that Abel, the archetype of the sacrificing priest, was a criminal butcher who was rightly killed by the vegetarian Cain. A phrase he used elsewhere, apparently about Christ's passion and not directly about the mass itself, seems nevertheless to express rather exactly his attitude to is: he called it 'some kind of a cabbalistic tragedy'. ~ John Bossy

Jeremiah came over after a while. He sat on the edge of my chair and drank from my thermos of Kool-Aid.
"She's pretty," I said.
"Who? Yolie?" He shrugged. "She's nice. One of my many admirers."
"Ha!"
"So what about you? Cam Cameron, huh? Cam the vegetarian. Cam the straight edge."
I tried not to smile. "So what? I like him."
"He's kind of a dork."
"That's what I like about him. He's…different."
He frowned slightly. "Different from who?"
"I don't know." But I did know. I knew exactly who he was different from.
"You mean he's not a dick like Conrad?"
I laughed, and so did he. "Yeah, exactly. He's nice."
"Just nice, huh?"
"More than nice."
"So you're over him, then? For real?" We both knew the "him" he was talking about.
"Yes," I told him.
"I don't believe you," Jeremiah said, watching me closely-just like when he was trying to figure out what kind of hand I had in Uno.
I took off my sunglasses and looked him in the eye. "It's true. I'm over him."
"We'll see," Jeremiah said, standing up. "My break's over. Are you okay over here? Wait around and I'll drive us home. I can put your bike in the back."
I nodded, and watched him walk back to the lifeguard chair. Jeremiah was a good friend. He'd always been good to me, watched out for me. ~ Jenny Han

Cats were not and are not tool makers the way humans became toolmakers. They are specifically adapted as obligate carnivores, This means the vegetarian cat is an oxymoron at best and a blatant lie at worst. Cats need meat. The concept of a Garden of Eden would be rather atrocious to them. ~ Leviak B. Kelly

I don't have hardly any caffeine, I don't drink alcohol and I watch my red meat intake. My diet at the minute seems to be verging towards the vegetarian, which is surprising me because I tend to just listen to what my body is fancying. ~ Jayne Middlemiss

The vegetarian movement is an ancient movement and is not quite a modern one. ~ Morarji Desai

Myron was just getting comfortable when he heard a toilet flush. He looked a question at Win. "I am not alone," Win said. "Oh." Myron adjusted himself on the couch. "A woman?" "Your gifts," Win said. "They never cease to amaze." "Anybody I know?" Myron asked. Win shook his head. "Not even somebody I know." The norm. Myron looked steadily at his friend. "You want to talk about this?" "No." "I'm here if you do." "Yes, I see that." Win swished around the drink in the snifter. He finished it in one gulp and reached for the crystal decanter. There was a slight slur in his speech. Myron tried to remember the last time he had seen Win the vegetarian, the master of several martial arts, the transcendental meditator, the man so at ease and in focus with his surroundings, have too much to drink. It had been a very long time. "I have a golf question for you," Myron said. Win nodded for him to proceed. ~ Harlan Coben

Why is the vegetarian Buddhist dressed like a jewel thief? ~ Jenn Bennett

Not one of these worthy restaurateurs would consider placing a western dish on his menu. No, we are surrounded instead by the kebab of mutton, the tikka of chicken, the stewed foot of goat, the spiced brain of sheep! These, sir, are predatory delicacies, delicacies imbued with a hint of luxury, of wanton abandon. Not for us the vegetarian recipes one finds across the border to the east, nor the sanitized, sterilized, processed meats so common in your homeland! Here we are not squeamish when it comes to facing the consequences of our desire. ~ Mohsin Hamid

Look at yourself, now! Stop eating meat, and the world will devour you whole. ~ Han Kang, The Vegetarian

I read The Vegetarian and fell in love with it. A year later, I was invited to go and speak at the London Book Fair (which I'd never even heard of before), as they were gearing up for Korea being the market focus country in 2014. I met Max Porter there, Kang's editor at Portobello, sent him my sample, and the rest is history. ~ Deborah Smith

I'm a lesbian, an Aquarian, and a vegetarian. ~ Ellen DeGeneres

Don't tell them he's upstairs , I commanded my brain. Tell them he moved to Pacoima to start a commune for vegetarian vampires. Tell them he's looking into getting a sex-change operation and renaming himself Lulu Pleshette. ~ Molly Harper

In its sacredness, families get together to (unintentionally?) celebrate one genocide (against Native Americans) by committing another (against turkeys). ~ Daniel Brook

A worst thing is thinking about health who show interest in non-vegetarian ~ Raghava

If you've got any concern at all about animal welfare, you've got to not eat meat. ~ Russell Brand

When I'm cooking for myself, I find that I eat almost completely vegetarian, although I'm not vegetarian. ~ Gail Simmons

Srikkanth is a vegetarian. If he swallows a fly, he will be in trouble ~ Sunil Gavaskar

I'm vegetarian, but I love Thanksgiving dinner: faux turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. ~ Leigh Lezark

You know, we all oppose animal cruelty. But sometimes we forget that animals on farms suffer and feel pain like all other animals. They, too, deserve to be protected from harm and cruelty. ~ Charlotte Ross

I have known many meat eaters to be far more nonviolent than vegetarians. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I am vegetarian. I have a sweet tooth, so I try and avoid desserts. I binge maybe once a month. I eat every two hours, whether it is a Marie biscuit or just a slice of apple. As a result, my metabolism has improved, and this is a huge contributor to weight loss. ~ Vidya Balan

I hope I'm not a vegetarian..." her voice trailed off as she burst into laughter. I had to join in her merriment. Lifting up my glass, I toasted her. "Here's to hoping you're not an alcoholic either. ~ Melanie Moreland

I won't eat what I can't kill. It seems shoddy, hypocritical. ~ Jeanette Winterson

Hitler was a vegetarian. ~ Michael Symon

I know what it feels like to be hurt,and I don't want to cause that pain to any other person or creature. But somehow, in society, we numb ourselves in order to make money or to feel better about ourselves, such as with cosmetics or food. We say to ourselves, I'm going to use this animal. I'm going to say it doesn't have much worth so that I can allow myself to do these cruel things. And that just isn't fair. ~ Alicia Silverstone

Im a Tibetan monk, not a vegetarian, ~ Dalai Lama

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves. ~ Nagarjuna

Fiber has a beneficial effect in preventing colon cancer. ~ David Jenkins

To consider yourself an environmentalist and still eat meat is like saying you're a philanthropist who doesn't give to charity. ~ Howard Lyman

Never buy a fur from a vegetarian. ~ Joan Rivers

When it came down to it, he just wasn't that engaged. You had to be engaged to be a vegetarian; you had to be engaged to sing "Both Sides Now" with your eyes closed; when it came down to it, you had to be engaged to be a mother. ~ Nick Hornby

Vegetarians have wicked, shifty eyes, and laugh in a cold calculating manner. They pinch little children, steal stamps, drink water, favor beards. ~ J.B. Morton

If you eat animals, you don't love animals; you love to eat them." - Andrew Kirschner, Ed.D. ~ Andrew Kirschner

They've arrested Sebastian! For m-murder! You've g-got to stop them! He d-didn't do it! He can't have done it! He doesn't believe in murder! He's a v-vegetarian! ~ Meg Cabot

I'm a big health food freak and a vegetarian devotee. ~ Chelsea Clinton

As for meat, I'm not going to become vegetarian. I'm telling you that right now. I want me a steak. I want me a pork chop. I want me a lamb chop, even a piece of duck every once in awhile. We used to have ham and salami, all that crazy stuff. I can't eat processed food. I've got to find local farmers and get natural foods. ~ Sharon Jones

How can you be a vegetarian atheist and own a gun? Well, that's who I am. ~ Bobcat Goldthwait

I am a very strict vegetarian ... I just really, really love animals, and I act on my values. ~ Natalie Portman

I'm vegetarian, so it's difficult for me to eat Tourtiere. ~ Charlotte Le Bon

I'm not a strict vegetarian. I do eat beef and pork. And chicken. But not fish 'cause that's disgusting! How do you know when fish goes bad? It smells like fish either way! 'Hey this smells like a dumpster, lets eat it!' ~ Jim Gaffigan

Granny said there was a law about having to eat Pizza at Christmas. Granny was full of nonsense, of course, but [Elsa] went along with it because she likes pizza. And Christmas food kind of sucks if you are a vegetarian. ~ Fredrik Backman

A vegetarian is not a person who lives on vegetables, any more than a Catholic is a person who lives on cats. ~ George Bernard Shaw

After 10 years of eating vegetarian, I tried my boyfriend's. I was overwhelmed. It was orgasmic. ~ Jessica Szohr

I'm not strictly vegetarian, but meat doesn't play a big part in my diet. ~ Katie Holmes

Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."
You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," I reminded him.
Those are vegetables. ~ Rick Riordan

Adolf introduces Fascism to Germany, spreads war throughout Europe, murders millions in concentration camps - but he's a strict vegetarian and loves his dog. Tossing in a touching scene with his German shepherd Blondie and a dish of lentils won't make Hitler's character 'balanced.' Hitler's character isn't balanced. ~ Howard Mittelmark

What should happen is a little voice in your head, like Jimmy Cricket in Pinocchio, will go 'But Russell, that bird, that's a creature like you, if you kill it it'll be all sad' and you go 'F***, alright. I won't kill it then.' ~ Russell Brand

I don't see why someone should lose their life just so you can have a snack. ~ Russell Brand