# Quote — Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Pig Who Sang to the Moon

> Many years ago, when I was merely a vegetarian, I met the great Cesar Chavez, and he said to me: "If you are interested in preventing animal suffering, the first thing you should give up is eggs and milk, because the animals who produce those foods lead the most unhappy lives. You would do better to eat meat and stop eating eggs and dairy products." I was shocked, since I had no intention of eating meat but had never thought of giving up eggs or dairy products. But when I looked into it I realized he was right, and now, years later, after I have studied the matter up close, I know for certain that he was completely correct about the cruel treatment of the animals raised for such products. The advantages of a vegan diet are enormous for our health, for the environment, for the animals themselves.

- Author: [Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson.md)
- Book: [The Pig Who Sang to the Moon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-pig-who-sang-to-the-moon.md)
- Page: 226
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Moussaieff_Masson#The_Pig_Who_Sang_to_the_Moon_(2003)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-pig-who-sang-to-the-moon/many-years-ago

## More from this book

> Perhaps if we had realized they are birds, with all the wonderful characteristics of birds, we would have paid closer attention to the ways in which chickens can enchant us. Take dust-bathing, for example. We call it a bath because the chicken finds a small indentation of dry earth and then proceeds to immerse herself in it as into a warm bath. The earth cleans her feathers. The first time I saw a chicken taking a dust bath, stretching out one iridescent wing and holding it up to the sunshine, then settling into the warmth of the afternoon only to fly effortlessly to a tree to roost in the evening, I was astonished.

p. 59 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-pig-who-sang-to-the-moon/perhaps-if-we-had.md)

> [About pigs] … of all animals their flesh most resembles human flesh, which is somewhat disconcerting when you consider that more than 40 percent of all meat raised in the world is pork.

p. 21 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-pig-who-sang-to-the-moon/about-pigs-of-all.md)

> Those who live with pigs often speak of them as we normally speak of dogs—intelligent, loyal, and above all, affectionate. Each one, I am continually reminded by people who know them, is a complete individual, like no other pig.

p. 52 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/the-pig-who-sang-to-the-moon/those-who-live.md)