You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. . . . Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat's meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough.

Summary

This quote by author Aldous Huxley suggests that animals do not engage in the irrational rituals of magic and religion like humans do. Animals do not resort to unusual behaviors or practices in the hope of influencing natural phenomena or divine powers. Huxley argues that it is only humans who engage in these unnecessary and foolish acts, implying that it is a consequence of our intelligence not being fully developed or rational enough. In essence, Huxley suggests that human irrationality is a result of our intelligence being insufficiently evolved.