“Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything in life.”

“Life is God's novel. Let him write it.”

“A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises. ”

“But what about the creatures whose flesh he's carrying there? A few days ago they were alive. They too have souls. They too are God’s children. They were quite possibly made of better material than human beings. Since they were sinless, they were certainly more innocent. But day after day they are ritually sacrificed-angels in the shape of oxen, calves, sheep. I once wanted to become a vegetarian. I wanted everything-and I never got further than wanting.”

“As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behaviour towards creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right.”

“The wastepaper basket is the writer’s best friend. ”

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”