We all live with blinders on. They come with having a personal vantage point.
— Victoria Moran
The idea that everything is purposeful really changes the way you live. To think that everything that you do has a ripple effect, that every word that you speak, every action that you make affects other people and the planet.
Vegetarian is like raising a kid Mennonite. It's difficult but not that different. Raising your kid vegan is like being Amish. A totally different world.
The idea that somebody is going to come in and make your debt go away and all be well for the future is really a fantasy.
Life would be very dreary if there were no magic. If the real world were only that veil of tears, I just don't think could get up in the morning.
You're supposed to be using your gifts and fulfilling your dreams, at every age.
I know that as a vegan, I'm in a minority. People love their meat. It's up there with sugar and TV and maybe even coffee on the list of inalienable American rights.
Taking B12 is the price of getting to be vegan, the way wearing a helmet is the price of getting to ride a motorcycle and giving up alcohol for nine months is the price of getting to have a baby.
In the past, I used to argue with those who didn't share my views. I felt this incredible need to 'make my point.' Now I live my life and do my best to be an example of what seems right to me.
I don't eat animals. I rescue strays and take injured pigeons to the wildlife rehab. I carry spiders and wasps outside in a cup covered with a 3x5 card. It would only follow that I'd take pause when contemplating the abrupt and apparently brutal ending of a tiny human being's life, or even a potential human being's life.
I'm a big believer in living life as an extended working vacation.
Beauty at 70 years old isn't the same as beauty at 20 years old, but it is stunning nonetheless.
I need a spiritual connection - I can make changes, but I can't make miracles - and I need people around me who'll support me and believe in me and tell me the truth and not let me deceive myself into avoiding the what's scary and hard and necessary.
Evolution happens in nature and in individuals. I want to participate actively in its happening within me.
'Make your plate look like a Christmas tree,' I tell people, 'mostly green with splashes of other bright colors.'
Your body has something in the neighborhood of 40 trillion cells - quite a consulting committee. Call on it when you're confused or undecided. Relax quietly and ask your body what it has to say.
Because love encompasses everything, nothing is unimportant, including tonight's dinner menu. Think about it for a minute. If you were pure love, the loving parent of all life, how would you want people to eat?
You want to live a life in which the things you have traded your hard-earned money for are quality items that really do uplift your life.
The idea that somebody else is going to swoop down and play the fairy godmother role is pretty unlikely, so why not take care of yourself?
Enjoy your food, enjoy your life.
It simply feels right to me to blend the glittery delights of New York City with a largely raw vegan diet - with the soul-deep conviction that animals are not ours to eat, wear, exploit or experiment on.
I don't have the activist temperament. I like listening to divergent points of view and hearing people out. I like getting along. I even like being liked, although activists of any stripe should get rid of that handicap at the outset.
I realize that I'm a mature woman and one of these days, incredible diet or not, I'll be a little old lady.
My most firmly held value is what Albert Schweitzer termed 'reverence for life.' I take this seriously; many would say that because I extend it to nonhumans, I take it too far.
On the issue of abortion, I'm ever on the fence, or, at most, an inch or two to either side.
There are some things that money can't buy: peace of mind, for starters, and lean muscle mass. Neither the Queen of England nor the founder of Microsoft can put in an order for either one.
I was a fat kid who didn't discover the joys of active play at the time of life when we're supposed to be imprinted with a love of movement. That means that I'd rather be called for jury duty than go to the gym, but I go anyway.
What I have to work with is the life that's ahead of me right this minute.
As I see it, a green salad is an open invitation to carrots, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and the sprouts that grow in jars on my kitchen counter.
I'm not perfect, but what's wonderful about eating a plant-based diet is, I don't have to be.
Our culture has long mistrusted the body. It's been seen as a confusing blend of God's handiwork and the devil's playground. It is, rather, a vortex of intelligence.
By itself, tofu is like wet foam rubber, but you'd no more eat it by itself and expect fine dining than you would stare at a blank canvas and expect to see fine art.
Recreational shopping is the shortest distance between two points: you and broke.
Being vegan is not the key to immortality. We're all going to get sick and die. But to know you're living without harming? That's the loveliest feeling.
Being vegan is a glorious adventure. It touches every aspect of my life - my relationships, how I relate to the world.
I am an urban vegan. I love the glossy pages of 'Vogue,' even though I won't purchase the leather shoes and bags I see there, and being reminded that the fur trade even exists breaks my heart.
I suppose I am one: an activist - for animals and a vegan lifestyle. I hear that word, however, and look around to see if someone is indeed referring to me.
I see people having fits because their coffee is too hot or their baked potato is too cold, or some random something is imperfect and somebody can be blamed for it. These people can fly off the handle and nobody says, 'Too much beef will do that to a person.' If it's a vegan: a clear case of alfalfa sprout poisoning.
My calling, as one imperfect human, is to celebrate and uphold life every time I get the chance.
I could be a vegan in sackcloth and flip-flops, but I find fabulous boots with periwinkle cuffs a far preferable option.
When it comes to literal nourishment, the food we eat, life begets life.
I'm over the hill, maybe even the whole mountain range, but I don't see it that way even one little bit.
I have to strive to go two steps forward and realize that, sometimes, there will be one step back.
Every year when I put away my winter clothes and get out my summer clothes, they fit. And I haven't been on a diet since the Reagan administration.
Moderation is actually the flip side of dieting, that is, imposed deprivation.
