I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat. It is only some carnivorous animals that have to subsist on flesh. Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventures, and for hides and furs is a phenomenon which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging in such acts of brutality . . . Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.

I have always had this view about the modern education system: we pay attention to brain development, but the development of warmheartedness we take for granted.

Treat each person as you would an old friend.

We must not lose our trust in the power of truth. Everything is always changing in the world.

Education is the best way to train ourselves that we will secure our own well-being by concerning ourselves with others. It is possible to create a better world, a more compassionate, more peaceful world, which is not only in everyone’s interest, but is everyone’s responsibility to achieve.

The question is not to know what is the meaning of life, but what meaning I can give to my life.

I am a firm believer in the importance of democracy, not only as the ultimate goal, but also as an essential part of the process.