Art 3

I call heaven and earth to witness you today: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse — therefore choose life!”
Deuteronomy 29: 9-10

“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”  (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9; Yerushalmi Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 37a.)

مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ أَنَّهُۥ مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًۢا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًۭا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَآ أَحْيَا ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًۭا ۚ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنْهُم بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ

Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors. (Quran 5:32)

By the pleasure of the Lord's Will, the prize of this human birth is obtained, and the intellect is exalted. (Sri Guru Granth Sahib, p.365)

Comparing oneself to others in such terms as "Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I," he should neither kill nor cause others to kill. (Sutta Nipata 705)

Satyavat says: The extermination of the root [of existence] (namely, of man) is not to be countenanced; that by no means constitutes the eternal dharma. (Mahabharata XII)

[In war] there befall [to pious and innocent persons] violence, death, or the deportation of beloved kindred. The friends, esteemed comrades, companions, and kinsmen, who still entertain undiminished affection for those affected by war, themselves suffer a calamity, and that calamity proves to be a personal violence to them. This is the lot of all men and is considered deplorable by the beloved of the gods. (Asoka’s Rock Edict XIII, 3 BCE)