Cow protection to me is one of the most wonderful phenomena in human evolution. It takes the human being beyond his species. The cow to me means the entire sub-human world. Man through the cow is enjoined to realize his identity with all that lives. Why the cow was selected for apotheosis is obvious to me. The cow was in India the best companion. She was the giver of plenty. Not only did she give milk, but she also made agriculture possible. The cow is a poem of pity. One reads pity in the gentle animal. She is the mother to millions of Indian mankind. Protection of the cow means protection of the whole dumb creation of God. The ancient seer, whoever he was, began with the cow. The appeal of the lower order of creation is all the more forcible because it is speechless. Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world, and Hinduism will live so long as there are Hindus to protect the cow.

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Source: Young India, 6 October 1921, p. 317 (Gandhi on cow protection); Wikiquote sourced entry.

About this quote

Compassion is easy to keep inside your own circle. Stretching it to creatures that cannot ask for anything — that cannot argue, bargain, or repay you — is what marks real moral growth. Caring for the voiceless, precisely because they are voiceless, becomes the truer measure of how far your kindness reaches.

When to use it

  • A family adopts an aging shelter dog no one else will take and commits to seeing out its care.
  • A volunteer speaks up for residents in a care home who can no longer advocate for themselves.
  • A farmer rests and handles his working animals gently, not only when doing so happens to be efficient.