Top 80 Ingrid Newkirk Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Never doubt that one person can make a difference.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

2. “When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

3. “The extinction of Homo Sapiens would mean survival for millions, if not billions, of Earth-dwelling species. Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on Earth – social and environmental.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

4. “Euthanasia is the kindest gift to a dog or cat unwanted and unloved.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

5. “The wonderful thing is that it’s so incredibly easy to be kind.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

6. “Perhaps measuring animal intelligence by comparing it to human intelligence isn’t the best litmus test.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

7. “If we are ever to halt climate change and conserve land, water and other resources, not to mention reduce animal suffering, we must celebrate Earth Day every day – at every meal.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

8. “Humans have grown like a cancer. We’re the biggest blight on the face of the earth.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

9. “Eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would return to a more symbiotic relationship, enjoyment at a distance.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

10. “A lot of people have culturally induced ethical blindness, but they can be cured!”

— Ingrid Newkirk

11. “We are not in the home finding business, although it is certainly true that we do find homes from time to time for the kind of animals people are looking for. Our service is to provide a peaceful and painless death to animals who no one wants.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

12. “When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

13. “Pet ownership is slavery. Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or be entertained by.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

14. “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

15. “I am not only uninterested in having children. I am opposed to having children. Having a purebred human baby is like having a purebred dog; it is nothing but vanity, human vanity.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

16. “The smallest form of life, even an ant or a clam, is equal to a human being.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

17. “All tyranny, bigotry, aggression, and cruelty are wrong, and whenever we see it, we must never be silent.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

18. “Pet ownership is an absolutely abysmal situation brought about by human manipulation.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

19. “Look out for your baby or your friend, of course. That is easy. The test of moral fiber is to stick up for those you relate to least, understand minimally, and do not think are that much like you.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

20. “I am not a morose person, but I would rather not be here. I don’t have any reverence for life, only for the entities themselves. I would rather see a blank space where I am. This will sound like fruitcake stuff again but at least I wouldn’t be harming anything.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

21. “When we build an attractive home, we raze land on which animals have already built their homes. They have nowhere to go.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

22. “Whether or not we are religious, respecting others should be seen as just as important as looking out for ourselves, yet it requires discipline to change our bad habits that cause pain to animals.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

23. “Our nonviolent tactics are not as effective. We ask nicely for years and get nothing. Someone makes a threat, and it works.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

24. “At PETA, we often say that the issue of how animals are treated isn’t just about them; it’s about us, how we behave.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

25. “Fortified plant-based milks are delicious and contain all the calcium, protein, and vitamin D of dairy products but with none of the cholesterol, lactose, hormones, or cruelty found in cow’s milk.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

26. “If a girl gets sexual pleasure from riding a horse, does the horse suffer? If not, who cares? If you French kiss your dog and he or she thinks it’s great, is it wrong? We believe all exploitation and abuse is wrong. If it isn’t exploitation and abuse, it may not be wrong.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

27. “Six million Jews died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughter houses.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

28. “Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

29. “Pigeon racing is a lousy, greedy, and often unlawful activity. One thing that it is not is kind to birds.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

30. “It is only human supremacy, which is as unacceptable as racism and sexism, that makes us afraid of being more inclusive.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

31. “The best bet for the horses would be to stop betting on the Derby and other horse races, and to stop breeding, racing and killing thoroughbreds altogether.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

32. “Animal hoarding was a dirty secret until hoarders appeared on our TV screens and showed how they are compelled to collect so many dogs, cats or parrots that the animals end up in cages only inches bigger than their own bodies. For life.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

33. “Pigeons are gentle and smart and have complex social relationships. Their hearing and vision are both excellent.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

34. “Although we have, in theory, abolished human slavery, recognized women’s rights, and stopped child labor, we continue to enslave other species who, if we simply pay attention, show quite clearly that they experience parental love, pain, and the desire for freedom, just as we do.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

35. “Animal liberationists do not separate out the human animal, so there is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. They’re all mammals.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

36. “Pigeons are among the most maligned urban wildlife despite the fact that human beings brought them to our shores and turned them loose in our cities – not something that they chose.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

37. “We do not advocate right to life for animals.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

38. “To me, it is one world, and the non-human animals bear the brunt of oppression and suffering.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

39. “Animals aren’t any better equipped to survive an emergency than humans are. Few people missed the fact that after Hurricane Katrina, people died because buses and emergency shelters wouldn’t allow their animals.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

40. “Give your dog or cat respect, patience, understanding and love. And if you just change to one vegetarian day a week, that’s a wonderful step that will save animal lives. It means you have chosen something kind instead of something cruel.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

41. “Eating meat is primitive, barbaric, and arrogant.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

42. “Every time we consume meat, eggs or dairy foods, we contribute to ecological devastation and the wasteful misuse of resources on a global scale.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

43. “Today, I marvel at the vegan foods in the supermarket, at the cruelty-free clothing choices in stores, and at the fantastic alternatives to dissection in schools, the modern ways to test medicines without killing rabbits and beagles, the many forms of entertainment involving purely human performers.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

44. “Medical research is “immoral even it it’s essential.””

— Ingrid Newkirk

45. “I have to think of the positive; that’s how I cope.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

46. “I am just trying to make the best possible case for the animals. That is clearly what I have been put on earth to do. Even after I am gone I will try to continue.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

47. “If you like to bake with eggs, you can substitute Ener-G egg replacer, bananas, tofu, or many other ingredients. You get the hang of it quickly enough.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

48. “Cows are gentle, interesting animals.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

49. “Even painless research is fascism, supremacism.”

— Ingrid Newkirk

50. “Winners don’t eat wieners.”

— Ingrid Newkirk