Jane Goodall > Quotes

“The more we learn of the true nature of non-human animals, especially those with complex brains and corresponding complex social behavior, the more ethical concerns are raised regarding their use in the service of man -- whether this be in entertainment, as "pets," for food, in research laboratories, or any of the other uses to which we subject them.”
― Jane Goodall

“Every day we make some impact on the planet. And the cumulative effect of millions of small ethical actions will truly make a difference.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle... If you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little bits, that's what will give you hope.”
― Jane Goodall

“As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
― Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey

“How healing it was to be back at Gombe again, and by myself with the chimpanzees and their forest. I had left the busy, materialistic world so full of greed and selfishness and, for a little while, could feel myself, as in the early days, a part of nature. I felt very much in tune with the chimpanzees, for I was spending time with them not to observe, but simple because I needed their company, undemanding and free of pity.”
― Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey

“The harmony of natural law … reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“If I were a bird that needs feathers to fly higher, my mother would be my strongest feather. She was extremely supportive. When I was one and a half, I took a whole handful of earthworms to bed with me. My mother said very quietly, "Jane, they will die if they leave the earth." And so, together, we put them back into the garden.”
― Jane Goodall

“from the moment when, staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, I saw a thinking, reasoning personality looking back.”
― Jane Goodall

“The first time I saw adult chimpanzees in these five-by-five foot cages... tears began to trickle down under my mask, and [JoJo, a chimp,] just reached out this gentle finger and wiped them away... And then the veterinarian came. He knelt down beside me and put his arm around me. He said, "I have to face this every day.”
― Jane Goodall

“Hope is often misunderstood. People tend to think that it is simply passive wishful thinking: I hope something will happen but I’m not going to do anything about it. This is indeed the opposite of real hope, which requires action and engagement”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“People say to me so often, 'Jane how can you be so peaceful when everywhere around you people want books signed, people are asking these questions and yet you seem peaceful,' and I always answer that it is the peace of the forest that I carry inside.”
― Jane Goodall

“Trees are living beings. And they have their own personalities... There are the young, eager saplings, all striving with each other... If you put your cheek against one of those, you almost sense the sap rising and the energy.”
― Jane Goodall

“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.”
― Jane Goodall

“don’t really like to go for a walk without a dog.” “Why is that?” “A dog gives a walk a purpose.” “How?” “Well, you are making someone else happy.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Arguably, we are the most intellectual creatures that's ever walked on planet Earth. So how come, then, that this so intellectual creature is destroying its only home?”
― Jane Goodall

“As your days, so shall your strength be.’ When I’m lying awake the night before having to make one of those speeches, I say that to myself. It reassures me.” “What does that mean to you, that text?” “That when the trials of life come, you’ll be given the strength to cope with them, day by day. So often I’ve thought at the start of a dreaded day—having to defend my Ph.D. thesis, giving a talk to an intimidating audience, or even just going to the dentist!—‘Well, of course, I shall get through this because I have to. I will find the strength. And, anyway, by this time tomorrow it will be over.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.”
― Jane Goodall

“Any little thing that brings us back into communion with the natural world and the spiritual power that permeates all life will help us to move a little further along the path of human moral and spiritual evolution.”
― Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope

“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves”
― Jane Goodall

“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place.”
― Jane Goodall

“And sometimes it is possible to rouse them from a seemingly meaningless life with a really good story,' Jane said, 'one that will reach their hearts and wake them up.'
'Can you give me an example?'
'One of my very favorites is fictitious but seems so appropriate now. It is Lord of the Rings.'
'What makes it such an appropriate story for the hopeless?' I asked.
'Because the might the heroes were up against seemed utterly invincible-the might of Mordor, the orcs, and the Black Riders on horses and then on those huge flying beasts. And Samwise and Frodo, two little hobbits, traveling into the heart of danger on their own..... I think it provides us with a blueprint of how we survive and turn around climate change and loos of biodiversity, poverty, racism, discrimination, greed, and corruption. The Dark Lord of Mordor and the Black Riders symbolize all the wickedness we have to fight. The fellowship of the Ring includes all those who are fighting the good fight-we have to work so hard to grow the fellowship around the world.'
Jane pointed out that the land of Middle-earth was polluted by the destructive industry of that world in the same way that our environment is devastated today. And she reminded me that Lady Galadriel had given Sam a little box of earth from her orchard.
'Do you remember how he used that gift when he surveyed the devastated landscape after the Dark Lord was finally defeated? He started sprinkling little pinches of the earth all around the country-and everywhere nature sprang back to life. Well, that earth represents all the projects people are doing to restore habitats on planet Earth.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Cruelty is a terrible thing. I believe it is the worst human sin.”
― Jane Goodall

“You may not believe in evolution, and that's all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important that how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made for ourselves.”
― Jane Goodall

“Thousands of people who say they 'love' animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living and who endured the awful suffering and the terrors of the abattoirs”
― Jane Goodall

“Just tell people stories, try and find out who they are, try and find something that links you with them.”
― Jane Goodall

“I had never been able to believe that God would give us poor frail humans only one chance at making it -- that we would be assigned to some kind of hell because we failed during one experience of mortal life. ... So the concepts of karma and reincarnation made logical sense to me.”
― Jane Goodall

“I well remember writing to Louis about my first observations, describing how David Graybeard not only used bits of straw to fish for termites but actually stripped leaves from a stem and thus made a tool. And I remember too receiving the now oft-quoted telegram he sent in response to my letter: "Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans." There”
― Jane Goodall, Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe

“...very few Westerners, I thought, could tolerate such a way of life- for it would mean having to forgo the luxuries which we had come to think of as necessities.”
― Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey

“Peace starts within. (Jane Goodall).”
― Jane Goodall

“Consider the farmer who sprays his fields with insecticide to kill the bugs that are damaging his crops. He kills thousands of harmless insects as well, including some that actually do good, such as bees that pollinate the flowers and give us honey. Creatures that feed on insects, especially birds, also get sick and die. In the end, because the poisonous chemicals get widely distributed, humans may become sick, too.”
― Jane Goodall, My Life With The Chimpanzees