I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. – Isaac Bashevis Singer, quoted in You Said a Mouthful edited by Ronald D. Fuchs

It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust. – Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab Notes

My perspective of veganism was most affected by learning that the veal calf is a by-product of dairying, and that in essence there is a slice of veal in every glass of what I had thought was an innocuous white liquid — milk. – Rynn Berry, quoted in Joanne Stepaniak, The Vegan Sourcebook, 1998

Millions of [the indigenous peoples of India] have lived to an advanced age, without having tasted of any thing that ever possessed life, and been wholly free from a chain of maladies, which have scourged every civilized nation on the globe… – “Food,” The Medical Adviser, and Guide to Health and Long Life, edited by Alex.