Terrorism is usually fueled by poverty, and the fanatical faith of the terrorists who truly believe that the more people they kill who do not subscribe to their faith, the greater their reward in heaven.
I think I’d like to be remembered as someone who really helped people to have a little humility and realize that we are part of the animal kingdom not separated from it.
That’s what keeps me going. Everywhere I go there are young people with shining eyes wanting to tell me, “Dr. Jane, we’re going to make the world a better place.”
People don’t believe that their actions really and truly are going to make a difference. But kids get it. They know. And they get all excited about the difference they’re making.
Some humans are mathematicians-others aren’t.
When I began in 1960, individuality wasn’t an accepted thing to look for; it was about species-specific behaviour. But animal behaviour is not hard science. There’s room for intuition.
I like some animals more than some people, some people more than some animals.
I’ve learned that if you want people to join in any kind of conservation effort, you have to help them to care with their hearts, not just their heads.
I wouldn’t even like to begin to define God – I have absolutely no idea. But what I feel, and what touches me, is a great spiritual power, which I don’t even want to name. If I had to, I would say God, because I don’t know any other.
Researchers find it very necessary to keep blinkers on. They don’t want to admit that the animals they are working with have feelings.
There are many animal-welfare groups that sometimes seem to forget that human beings are animals too, that we need to include them in our sphere of compassion.
It made me feel particularly sickened to know that this kind of callous attitude toward animals is repeated again and again in laboratories around this country.
My hope for the future is that we learn wisdom again.
Most Africans don’t get to see these wild animals at all. Once they see and learn about them, they are much more likely to become involved in protecting the environment.
Some people say, therefore, that violence and war are inevitable. I say rubbish: Our brains are fully capable of controlling instinctive behavior.
It was because the chimps are so eye-catching, so like us and teach us so much that my work was recognised worldwide.
The cheapest and most efficient way of slowing down global warming is to protect and restore the forests, particularly the tropical forests.
Chimps taught us we’re not separated from the animal kingdom, we’re a part of it.
Be assured that our individual actions, collectively, make a huge difference.
It’s not a pretty picture, but there are reasons for hope.