"Now what is it that moves our very hearts and sickens us so much at cruelty shown to poor brutes? I suppose this first, that they have done no harm; next that they have no power whatever of resistance; it is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are the victims which makes their sufferings so especially touching. For instance, if they were dangerous animals, take the case of wild beasts at large, able not only to defend themselves, but even to attack us; much as we might dislike to hear of their wounds and agony, yet our feelings would be of a very different kind; but there is something so very dreadful, so satanic, in tormenting those who never have harmed us, who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power, who have weapons neither of offence nor defence, that none but very hardened persons can endure the thought of it."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Part of this text is widely quoted with the addition of the sentence, "Cruelty to animals is as if man did not love God", which is not present in the sermon.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Henry_Newman
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Related Quotes
"There never was a time when God had not spoken to man, and told him to a certain extent his duty. His injunctions to …"
"It would seem, then, that there is something true and divinely revealed, in every religion all over the earth, overlo…"
"Christian! hence learn to do thy part, And leave the rest to Heaven."
"And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since and lost awhile."
"Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home— Lead Thou …"
"There is in stillness oft a magic power To calm the breast, when struggling passions lower; Touch'd by its influence,…"
"Men live after their death—they live not only in their writings or their chronicled history, but still more in that ἄ…"
"Time hath a taming hand."
"Sin can read sin, but dimly scans high grace."
"The more I read of Athanasius, Theodoret, etc, the more I see that the ancients did make the Scriptures the basis of …"