Love the animals – God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble them – don’t harass them, don’t deprive them of their happiness, don’t work against God’s intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to the animals; they are without sin, while you with your greatness defile the earth by your appearance on it and leave the traces of your foulness after you – alas, it is true of almost every one of us!
Feodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov