--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We’re beings toward death, we’re ……" description: "\"We’re beings toward death, we’re … two-legged, linguistically-conscious creatures born between urine and feces whose body will one day be the culinary ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc7/cornel-west-708_animals_we-re-beings-toward-death-we-re-two-legg_2447079.jpg" --- # We’re beings toward death, we’re … two-legged… ![“We’re beings toward death, we’re … two-legged, linguistically-conscious creatures born between urine and feces whose body will one day be the culinary delight of terrestrial worms.” quote by Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc7/cornel-west-708_animals_we-re-beings-toward-death-we-re-two-legg_2447079.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc7/cornel-west-708_animals_we-re-beings-toward-death-we-re-two-legg_2447079.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc7/cornel-west-708_animals_we-re-beings-toward-death-we-re-two-legg_2447079.jpg) > “We’re beings toward death, we’re … two-legged, linguistically-conscious creatures born between urine and feces whose body will one day be the culinary delight of terrestrial worms.” [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human existence is fragile, absurd, and ultimately returns to nature **In simple terms:** We are mortal, messy beings destined to decompose Key Takeaway Embrace humility and care for the living now Themes mortality humor humility existentialism Mood somber thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - medical ethics - environmental activism - artistic expression - personal reflection Key Concepts anthropology philosophy of death Questions to Reflect On - How does acknowledging mortality change daily choices? - What practices help balance awareness of decay with joy? A Different Perspective Focusing on death can cause anxiety or nihilism ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beings/) [Beings Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beings-death-537900/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Born](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/born/) [Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) [Conscious Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious-creatures-537898/) [Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) [Culinary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culinary/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Delight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delight/) [Feces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feces/) [Feces Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feces-body-537899/) [One day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/one-day/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Worms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worms/) ## Related quotes > [“We’re beings toward death, we’re featherless, two-legged, linguistically-conscious creatures born between urine and feces whose body will one day be the culinary delight of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-re-beings-toward-death-we-re-featherless-two-legged-linguistically/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Values reduce to facts about the well-being of conscious creatures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/values-reduce-to-facts-about-the-well-being-of-conscious-creatures/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [There are two kinds of death, the death which is inevitable and common to all beings, and the death which is voluntary and particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdelkader-el-djezairi/there-are-two-kinds-of-death-the-death-which-is-inevitable-and-common/) [Abdelkader El Djezairi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdelkader-el-djezairi/) > [“The judgement of death upon humanity was brought into existence by God; it is his severest judgement. Over the course of salvation history, death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillip-michael-garner/the-judgement-of-death-upon-humanity-was-brought-into-existence-by/) [Phillip Michael Garner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillip-michael-garner/) > [“There’s a faint whiff of feces wafting up my nostrils. But that’s natural, because I just walked past a politician.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/there-s-a-faint-whiff-of-feces-wafting-up-my-nostrils-but-that-s/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [“But far from being a harmless source of fertilizer, dog feces is both an environmental contaminant (and is classified as such by the Environmental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonia-shah/but-far-from-being-a-harmless-source-of-fertilizer-dog-feces-is-both/) [Sonia Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonia-shah/) > [Vomit and feces are two reason I have decided not to procreate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chelsea-handler/vomit-and-feces-are-two-reason-i-have-decided-not-to-procreate/) [Chelsea Handler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chelsea-handler/) > [I watched the piles of feces go up the conveyor belt... They made their way through the machine... A few minutes later I took…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/i-watched-the-piles-of-feces-go-up-the-conveyor-belt-they-made-their/) [Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/) > [“I used to say I was Saint Cyndi of a Feces, because wherever shit fell, there I was.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyndi-lauper/i-used-to-say-i-was-saint-cyndi-of-a-feces-because-wherever-shit-fell/) [Cyndi Lauper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyndi-lauper/) > [“I used to think that size does not count, until I realized that most people either find other people’s faeces more disgusting than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/i-used-to-think-that-size-does-not-count-until-i-realized-that-most/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [“I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want in my bloodstream is the stuff my body would otherwise excrete as feces.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefani-ruper/i-don-t-know-about-you-but-the-last-thing-i-want-in-my-bloodstream-is/) [Stefani Ruper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefani-ruper/) > [ “A nationwide study published by the USDA in 1996 found that \[...\] 78.6 percent of the ground beef contained microbes that are spread primarily… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-schlosser/a-nationwide-study-published-by-the-usda-in-1996-found-that-78-6/) [Eric Schlosser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-schlosser/) > [“Artists are agents of chaos. It is the artists job to encourage entropy, to promote chaos. Idols must be killed, icons crushed, beliefs shattered.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-culver/artists-are-agents-of-chaos-it-is-the-artists-job-to-encourage/) [Jonathan Culver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-culver/) > [They all have in common that they are bacteria caused by bowel and feces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kennedy/they-all-have-in-common-that-they-are-bacteria-caused-by-bowel-and/) [Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kennedy/) > [Every living body continuously eliminates feces, it rejects what is not serviceable to the assimilating organism: what man despises, what arouses his disgust, what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-living-body-continuously-eliminates-feces-it-rejects-what-is/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More by Cornel West > [There has certainly been ugly, right-wing hatred targeting Barack Obama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-has-certainly-been-ugly-right-wing-hatred-targeting-barack-obama/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-feel-as-if-i-have-been-blessed-to-undergo-a-transformation-from/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/like-king-we-need-to-put-on-our-cemetery-clothes-and-be-coffin-ready/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [ “You can't really move forward until you look back. \[From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-t-really-move-forward-until-you-look-back-from-remaking/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [When we think of globalization we are thinking in part of structures and institutions that have been developed over time and that have allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-we-think-of-globalization-we-are-thinking-in-part-of-structures/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-challenge-artists-face-today-is-whether-to-be-an-underground/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-need-of-black-conservatives-to-gain-the-respect-of-their-white/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [For me, musicians are poets. Beethoven describes himself as a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/for-me-musicians-are-poets-beethoven-describes-himself-as-a-poet-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I don't draw any distinctions between forms of bigotry or forms of ideology that lose sight of the humanity of people. I can't stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-don-t-draw-any-distinctions-between-forms-of-bigotry-or-forms-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Barack Obama has domesticated the left in such a way that we feel as if we have no alternative but him...I refuse to accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/barack-obama-has-domesticated-the-left-in-such-a-way-that-we-feel-as/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people's culture and working people's culture and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/larry-summers-i-think-he-had-a-long-history-of-arrogance-and-relative/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-greatest-gift-you-can-give-someone-is-the-gift-of-inspiration/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-see-it-in-terms-of-the-obsession-on-wall-street-with-not-just/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Anybody who takes Martin Luther King seriously has got to go beyond the standard understanding of who he was, has to connect those dots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/anybody-who-takes-martin-luther-king-seriously-has-got-to-go-beyond/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Explore all 400 Cornel West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## More Animals quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Humans are animals too, but some do not like to work from expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/humans-are-animals-too-but-some-do-not-like-to-work-from-expectations/) [Mak\_786](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mak-786/) > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [We must love animals in such a powerful way that we should reject to eat them!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-must-love-animals-in-such-a-powerful-way-that-we-should-reject-to/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [I bet plants go like 'Weeeeeeeee!' whenever they're swallowed by a giraffe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-plants-go-like-weeeeeeeee-whenever-they-re-swallowed-by-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It’s a small thing to help one animal, but to that one animal it’s a big thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-baur/it-s-a-small-thing-to-help-one-animal-but-to-that-one-animal-it-s-a/) [Gene Baur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-baur/) > [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/all-these-creatures-spend-their-time-explaining-realizing-happily/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [We're not very dangerous animals; we don't have a horn like a rhino or quills like a porcupine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/we-re-not-very-dangerous-animals-we-don-t-have-a-horn-like-a-rhino-or/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [“Plenty of animals had pets, but few were more devoted than the mouse, who owned a baby corn snake—“A rescue snake, she’d be quick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/plenty-of-animals-had-pets-but-few-were-more-devoted-than-the-mouse/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. 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