“With respect to animal diet, let it be considered, that taking away the lives of animals, in order to convert them into food, does great violence to the principles of benevolence and compassion. This appears from the frequent hard-heartedness and cruelty found amongst those persons whose occupations engage them in destroying animal life, as well as from the uneasiness which others feel in beholding the butchery of animals.”

—  David Hartley (philosopher) , book Observations on Man

Observations on Man (1749; 6th edition, 1834), Part II, Chapter III, Section II.

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British philosopher 1705–1757

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