誰道群生性命微，一般骨肉一般皮； 勸君莫打三春鳥，子在巢中望母歸。
──唐‧白居易
Who says other beings’ lives have no meaning, they have the same flesh, bones, and skin. I implore you to not shoot the birds of spring. For the children in the nest, awaiting mother's wing.
— Bai Juyi, Tang Dynasty
Note:
Growing up in China, I never knew this. Only now after reading these poems that were never taught in Chinese schools in China did I find out that a lot of these famous Chinese ancient celebrities (like this one, Bai Juyi is super famous, and so are Su Shi and Lu You) were actually supporting the vegetarianism or veganism causes. Whether they walked the walk (actually avoided consuming meat), we don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t surprised if some of them actually did from certain point of their lives.