Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British Rule, and in turn inspired movements for civil-rights and freedom and non-violence across the world.
He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest.
He joined the London Vegetarian Society and was elected to its executive committee.
Quotes on the treatment of animals
- "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"
- “To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.”
- "I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind"
- "The most violent weapon on earth is the table fork."
- "It is very significant that some of the most thoughtful and cultured men are partisans of a pure vegetable diet"
- "I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants."