"Since I was a kid I felt this need to play a role in helping Mother Earth. At the age of 12, I wrote a 50-page report (that wasn’t supposed to be more than 5 pages) on threatened wildlife and realised clearly that my Mother was being continually and forcibly raped by giant corporations intent on profit."

"Once people spend time with farm animals in a loving way ... a pig or cow or a little chicken or a turkey, they might find they relate with them the same way they relate with dogs and cats. People don't really think of them (that way) because they're on the plate. Why should they be food when other animals are pets? I would never eat my doggies."

"I became a vegan when I was 13 years old, and it's the best thing I've done in my life. I was a smart kid. I didn't have the best education money could buy, but I knew that I could get all the nutrition I needed without partaking of the flesh. It's so cool, I eat my meals knowing that no animals have died for my vitamins, that's liberating for me, and liberating for them. One more thing, vegan kisses taste nice."

"I went vegetarian when I was 17. When it occurred to me that I could live without killing animals I wondered what on earth I had been thinking of for the last 17 years. I question any parent who brings their child up thinking that this act of unnecessary violence should become a part of their life."

"I became vegetarian 30 years ago and it is central to my life. All the discoveries I've subsequently made about the treatment of animals have confirmed it as the right choice. If we turn a blind eye to animal cruelty we are more likely to tolerate cruelty to people."

"Intellectually, human beings and animals may be different, but it's pretty obvious that animals have a rich emotional life and that they feel joy and pain. It's easy to forget the connection between a hamburger and the cow it came from. But I forced myself to acknowledge the fact that every time I ate a hamburger, a cow had ceased to breathe and moo and walk around."

"When I did the Prada campaign, the stylist wore the shoes. They did a separate shot of the shoes and it wasn't me. You know, it's kind of ridiculous because who the hell's going to know that? I tried to get them to make a vegetarian shoe, but no."

"I ate a big steak in 1988 and never felt worse. That was it, boom, over. Never again."

"I hate it when they put that little claim on milk that it’s completely ‘natural’ Yes, it’s natural for the cow but not for humans. I’m adamant that cow’s milk is for cows, goat’s milk is for goats and human milk is for humans."

"I don't eat any food that comes from an animal ... But, I learned long ago to tolerate others rather than forcing my beliefs on them. You know, you can influence people without badgering them always."