--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Many times I am asked why the suffering…" description: "\"Many times I am asked why the suffering of animals should call forth more sympathy from me than the suffering of human beings; why I work in this direc..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/ella-wheeler-wilcox-1442_animal_many-times-i-am-asked-why-the-suffering_2131132.jpg" --- # Many times I am asked why the suffering of animals should… ![“Many times I am asked why the suffering of animals should call forth more sympathy from me than the suffering of human beings; why I work in this direction of charitable work more than toward any other. My answer is that because I believe that this work includes all the education and lines of…” quote by Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/ella-wheeler-wilcox-1442_animal_many-times-i-am-asked-why-the-suffering_2131132.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/ella-wheeler-wilcox-1442_animal_many-times-i-am-asked-why-the-suffering_2131132.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/ella-wheeler-wilcox-1442_animal_many-times-i-am-asked-why-the-suffering_2131132.jpg) > “Many times I am asked why the suffering of animals should call forth more sympathy from me than the suffering of human beings; why I work in this direction of charitable work more than toward any other. My answer is that because I believe that this work includes all the education and lines of reform which are needed to make a perfect circle of peace and goodwill about the Earth.” [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She argues that caring for animals reflects a broader commitment to universal peace and goodwill. **In simple terms:** Caring for animals shows a desire for worldwide peace. Key Takeaway Extend empathy to all living beings. Themes animal welfare peace ethics Mood reflective concerned Type ethical philosophical When to use this quote - animal rescue - education campaigns - policy advocacy - community outreach Key Concepts universal compassion environmental stewardship Questions to Reflect On - Why do we value human over animal suffering? - How can we balance empathy across species? A Different Perspective Human suffering may be deprioritized. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) [Answers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/answers/) [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Charitable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/charitable/) [Charitable work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/charitable-work/) [Circles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/circles/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Forth Sympathy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forth-sympathy-4393057/) [Goodwill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goodwill/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [I believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-believe/) [Lines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lines/) [Needed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needed/) [Perfect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect/) [Reform](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reform/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Suffering Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering-animals-633336/) [Sympathy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sympathy/) [Sympathy Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sympathy-suffering-669065/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [It's important for me to be innovative and creative when doing charitable work as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/2-chainz/it-s-important-for-me-to-be-innovative-and-creative-when-doing/) [2 Chainz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/2-chainz/) > [Every now and then I will play; I try to focus on charitable work. I might do it because it's an offer I can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-agassi/every-now-and-then-i-will-play-i-try-to-focus-on-charitable-work-i/) [Andre Agassi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-agassi/) > [I'm not sure what fame is for if it isn't to focus on charitable work.quot;](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-lee-curtis/i-m-not-sure-what-fame-is-for-if-it-isn-t-to-focus-on-charitable-work/) [Jamie Lee Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-lee-curtis/) > [I believe that we all need to do charitable work. It should be taken seriously in the area of education, as someone from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-believe-that-we-all-need-to-do-charitable-work-it-should-be-taken/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My life is so filled with my children, my family, and the charitable work I do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-lee-curtis/my-life-is-so-filled-with-my-children-my-family-and-the-charitable/) [Jamie Lee Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-lee-curtis/) > [“The majority of people spoil their lives by an unhealthy and exaggerated altruism – are forced, indeed, so to spoil them. They find themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-majority-of-people-spoil-their-lives-by-an-unhealthy-and/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Up to the present man has hardly cultivated sympathy at all. He has merely sympathy with pain, and sympathy with pain is not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/up-to-the-present-man-has-hardly-cultivated-sympathy-at-all-he-has/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-with-suffering-than-it-is-to/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“I felt great empathy for my friend, as one form of cancer after another emerged to challenge him. I felt sympathy for his suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brent-green/i-felt-great-empathy-for-my-friend-as-one-form-of-cancer-after/) [Brent Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brent-green/) > [“The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence; and, as I pointed out some time ago in an article on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-emotions-of-man-are-stirred-more-quickly-than-man-s-intelligence-2/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“I have also learnt sympathy with suffering. To me, suffering seems now a sacramental thing, that makes those whom it touches holy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/i-have-also-learnt-sympathy-with-suffering-to-me-suffering-seems-now/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man's intelligence...it is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-emotions-of-man-are-stirred-more-quickly-than-man-s-intelligence/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Men and women of faith should be the first to argue that God does not need federal funds to do his work. When they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bradley/men-and-women-of-faith-should-be-the-first-to-argue-that-god-does-not/) [Anne Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bradley/) > [I have to thank God for bringing me through and allowing me to continue to do charitable work for other sick children suffering with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tionne-watkins/i-have-to-thank-god-for-bringing-me-through-and-allowing-me-to/) [Tionne Watkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tionne-watkins/) > [“...a dozen hands engaged in hard, charitable work will change more lives than thousands of hands clasped in prayer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-wahls/a-dozen-hands-engaged-in-hard-charitable-work-will-change-more-lives/) [Zach Wahls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-wahls/) ## More by Ella Wheeler Wilcox > [A day which passed without a poem from my pen I considered lost and misused.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/a-day-which-passed-without-a-poem-from-my-pen-i-considered-lost-and/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Talk health. The dreary, never-changing tale Of mortal maladies is worn and stale. You cannot charm, or interest, or please By harping in that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/talk-health-the-dreary-never-changing-tale-of-mortal-maladies-is-worn/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Why dost thou shrink from my approach, O Man? Why dost thou ever flee in fear, and cling To my false rival, Life? I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/why-dost-thou-shrink-from-my-approach-o-man-why-dost-thou-ever-flee/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [With every rising of the sun Think of your life as just begun. The past has shrived and buried deep All yesterdays— there let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/with-every-rising-of-the-sun-think-of-your-life-as-just-begun-the/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [“Why, even Death stands still and waits an hour for such a will.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/why-even-death-stands-still-and-waits-an-hour-for-such-a-will/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Better to wait and yearn, and still to wait, And die at last with unappeased desire, Than live to be the jest of such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/better-to-wait-and-yearn-and-still-to-wait-and-die-at-last-with/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes, and men grow better as the world grows old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/love-lights-more-fires-than-hate-extinguishes-and-men-grow-better-as/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Back on its golden hinges The gate of Memory swings, And my heart goes into the garden And walks with the olden things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/back-on-its-golden-hinges-the-gate-of-memory-swings-and-my-heart-goes/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [I hold it true that thoughts are things Endowed with bodies, breath, and wings, And that we send them forth to fill The world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/i-hold-it-true-that-thoughts-are-things-endowed-with-bodies-breath/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [All perfect things are saddening in effect. The autumn wood robed in its scarlet clothes, The matchless tinting on the royal rose Whose velvet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/all-perfect-things-are-saddening-in-effect-the-autumn-wood-robed-in/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Content is not the pathway to great deeds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/content-is-not-the-pathway-to-great-deeds/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Don't anticipate the happiness of tomorrow. Discover it today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/don-t-anticipate-the-happiness-of-tomorrow-discover-it-today/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [“And yet I would not be a child again. For surely as the night succeeds the day, So surely will their mirth turn into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/and-yet-i-would-not-be-a-child-again-for-surely-as-the-night-succeeds/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Day's sweetest moments are at dawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/day-s-sweetest-moments-are-at-dawn/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Oh! not for the great departed, Who formed our country's laws, And not for the bravest-hearted, Who died in freedom's cause, And not for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/oh-not-for-the-great-departed-who-formed-our-country-s-laws-and-not/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) [Explore all 240 Ella Wheeler Wilcox quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) ## More Animal 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/) > [When grubbing for necessities man is still an animal. He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/when-grubbing-for-necessities-man-is-still-an-animal-he-becomes/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [I'm 38 and I'm single, and I'm having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. But we all learn about love in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-knapp/i-m-38-and-i-m-single-and-i-m-having-my-most-intense-and-gratifying/) [Caroline Knapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-knapp/) > [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/) > [A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/a-horse-a-horse-my-kingdom-for-a-horse/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“it is a federal system of sadistic torture, vivisection, and animal genocide, which has been carried on for decades under the fraudulent guise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-tobias/it-is-a-federal-system-of-sadistic-torture-vivisection-and-animal/) [Michael Tobias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-tobias/) > [“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/) > [“The universe contains any amount of horrible ways to be woken up, such as the noise of the mob breaking down the front door,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/the-universe-contains-any-amount-of-horrible-ways-to-be-woken-up-such/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/this-brings-me-back-to-the-image-of-kafka-standing-before-a-fish-in/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [That dog, I say that dog is lower than a snake full of buckshot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/foghorn-leghorn/that-dog-i-say-that-dog-is-lower-than-a-snake-full-of-buckshot/) [Foghorn Leghorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/foghorn-leghorn/) > [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/) > [Animal rights without veganism is like human rights with slavery. It makes no sense. None whatsoever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-l-francione/animal-rights-without-veganism-is-like-human-rights-with-slavery-it/) [Gary L. Francione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-l-francione/) [Browse all 13,456 Animal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Many times I am asked why the suffering of animals should call forth more sympathy from me than the suffering of human beings; why I work in this direction of charitable work more than toward any other. 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