Quote by Henry Beston
We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creatures through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.
Summary
In this quote, author Henry Beston suggests that we need to change our perspective and attitude towards animals. He argues that humans often view animals through the lens of their own knowledge, technology, and superiority, causing us to disregard their true essence and greatness. Beston believes that animals have their own unique ways of being and perceiving the world, gifted with senses and abilities that humans lack or have forgotten. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing animals as separate nations, sharing the same interconnectedness and vulnerability as humans in the beauty and challenges of life on Earth.
Topics
Animals
By Henry Beston
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