If you’re a pet owner, you’ll know firsthand exactly how much joy, comfort, and pleasure your pet can bring to you on a daily basis. It’s said that owning a pet has numerous benefits for both our physical and mental health, so it’s hardly surprising thatpet ownership in Australia is growing year on year, with over 63% of Australian households now sharing their home with a pet of some sort.

Here are 25 inspirational quotes about pets that show us just how important animals are to humans.

Animals as a barometer of ourselves

Humans have long known the benefits that come from giving love to an animal, and indeed the way in which we treat our pets has a bearing on the way in which we interact with other humans and how we conduct our lives, as some of the following quotes demonstrate.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”.
– Mahatma Gandhi

“I am in favour of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being”.

– Abraham Lincoln

“Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man”.
– Arthur Schopenhauer

“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem”.
– A.A. Milne

“God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear – to give sign, we and they are His children, one family here”.

– Robert Browning

On treating animals unfairly

While we consider ourselves to be a civilised society, will we ever be totally civilised until we stop treating animals unfairly?

“No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink”.
– Murray Banks

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages”.
– Thomas A. Edison

“Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account?”
– Jean Paul Richter

Selfless and unwavering loyalty and love

We love our pets for their ability to be non-judgemental, for their unwavering loyalty, and their ability to give love even when the chips are down.

“You think those dogs will not be in heaven! I tell you they will be there long before any of us”.
– Robert Louis Stevenson

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself”.
– Josh Billings

“ Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to”.
– Alfred A. Montapert

“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language”.
– Martin Buber

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man”.
– Mark Twain

“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day”.
– John Grogan

“Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms”.
– George Eliot

“Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them; and in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures”.
– Thomas de Quincey

“Even the tiniest poodle is lionhearted, ready to do anything to defend home, master, and mistress”.
– Louis Sabin

“When animals express their feelings they pour out like water from a spout. Animals’ emotions are raw, unfiltered, and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious of joys and their grief the deepest and most devastating. Their passions bring us to our knees in delight and sorrow”.
– Marc Bekoff

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans”.
– James Herriot

Their ability to calm and relax us, and help us make sense of the world

Who can resist stroking a tiny kitten and hearing it purr, or looking into the melting brown eyes of your dog as he welcomes you home from a short trip as though you’d been away for weeks?

“Petting, scratching and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as a prayer”.

– Dean Koontz

“What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected”.
– Chief Seattle

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened”.
– Anatole France

“Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet”.
– Colette

“Happiness is a warm puppy”.
– Schulz

“The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too”.
– Samuel Butler