Jane Goodall > Quotes

“The program—which is all about taking care of people so they are better able to care for”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“If we live in a society with a reasonable standard of living and some degree of social justice, the generous and peaceful aspects of our nature are likely to prevail; while in a society of racial discrimination and economic injustice, violence will thrive.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Grub and Derek sitting on the veranda of the house in Dar es Salaam. Derek was a nationalized Tanzanian. He knew Swahili as well as he knew English. And he was liked and respected by almost all Tanzanians, including the Kigoma officials and my own field staff. He helped me to build up a new research center, where almost all the observations were made by the Tanzanian field staff. The”
― Jane Goodall, My Life With The Chimpanzees

“intelligence and communication of trees, see Suzanne Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (Alfred A. Knopf, 2021) and Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World (Greystone Books, 2016).”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“I guess the depth of our grief is a reminder of the depth of our love.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Hope is a survival trait”
― Jane Goodall

“survival of your own genes,” I said.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“We must remember that we have not inherited this planet from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children. But we have not been borrowing their future, we have stolen it and we keep stealing it.”
― Jane Goodall

“The environment we create will determine what prevails. In other words, what we nurture and encourage wins.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“That there’s intelligence in all life,”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“We need a new universal moral code.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“But it’s the way we have used the intellect that has made the mess, not the intellect per se.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“stand up against it. And even when they lose their lives, their voices still resonate long after they are gone, giving us inspiration and hope—hope in the ultimate goodness of this strange, conflicted human animal that evolved from an apelike creature some six million years ago.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“When I was young, I knew that, somehow, I would go to Africa and live with animals. And I wanted to write books about them. I don't think I spent too much time wondering exactly how I would do it. I just felt sure the right opportunity would somehow come. I didn't feel frustrated because I could not immediately get to the wild places. Partly this was because I knew I could never go on a reallt long trip while Rusty was still alive. It would have seemed like a betrayal. And while I waited I went on learning.”
― Jane Goodall

“Are you saying we have to find a way of forgiving the oppressor?” I asked, somewhat suspect of this ability to forgive or have compassion for the oppressor.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Sometimes I [longed to be a chimp]... I just wanted to know... what it felt like in the evening to be making a nest and what it felt like to be a female when a big male comes thundering in.”
― Jane Goodall

“The horrific conditions in which billions of domestic animals are bred for food, milk, and eggs have also led to the spawning of new diseases such as the contagious swine flu that started on a factory farm in Mexico and noninfectious ones like E. coli, MRSA (staph), and salmonella.”
― Jane Goodall

“Yes, I’ve found that stories reach the heart better than any facts or figures.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Jo”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“When a mother tree is cut down, this is likely to have an adverse effect on the development of the young, replacement seedling, and thus the regeneration of the entire forest may be compromised.”
― Jane Goodall, Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants

“Moral evolution, I think, is understanding how we should behave, how we should treat others, understanding justice, understanding the need for a more equitable society. Spiritual evolution is more about meditating on the mystery of creation and the Creator, asking who we are and why we are here and understanding how we are part of the amazing natural world-again Shakespeare says it beautifully when he talks of seeing 'books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
― Jane Goodall

“However, in order to be economically successful, the colonial invaders needed plentiful supplies of cheap labor—and it was this that led to the transatlantic slave trade.”
― Jane Goodall, Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants

“By destroying habitats we force animals into closer contact with people, thus creating situations for pathogens to form new human diseases. And as the human population grows, people and their livestock are penetrating ever deeper into remaining wilderness areas, wanting more space to expand their villages and to farm. And animals are hunted, killed, and eaten. They or their body parts are trafficked—along with their pathogens—around the world. They are sold in wildlife markets for food, clothing, medicine, or for the trade in exotic pets. Conditions in almost all of these markets are not only horribly cruel but usually extremely unhygienic—blood, urine, and feces from stressed animals all over the place. Perfect opportunity for a virus to hop onto a human—and it is thought that this pandemic, like SARS, was created in a Chinese wildlife market. HIV-1 and HIV-2 originated from chimpanzees sold for bushmeat in wildlife markets in Central Africa. Ebola possibly started from eating gorilla meat.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Another plant whose incredible power to heal was confirmed by Western medicine is the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus),”
― Jane Goodall, Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants

“My very favorite example of this is the story of Methuselah and Hannah,” she said, “two very special date palms. Methuselah was the first to be brought back to life—from one of a number of seeds discovered in King Herod’s desert fortress on the shores of the Dead Sea in the Jordan Rift Valley.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“You cannot share your life with a dog or a cat and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings.”
― Jane Goodall

“Why don’t you see if you can google that Einstein quote while I feed him. It’s in his book The World As I See It.” While Jane was gone, I looked it up. And there it was, in the book Jane suggested: “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

“Yes, here it is. ‘Though we are limited physically, our spirit is limitless. So let the generation after us, and everyone else, see what two handicapped individuals have accomplished. Even after we’re gone, they will see that a blind man and an armless man have left them a forest.’ “And that,” said Jane, “is a wonderful example of how friendship can give hope to the hopeless. And a marvelous illustration of what can be accomplished by the indomitable human spirit.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“that with courage and determination the impossible becomes possible.”
― Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times

“Yes, I have found children living in underprivileged communities are very motivated to help others. I am always very moved when I see the excitement in the eyes of these children when I tell them they can make a difference. That the world needs them. Above all, that they matter.”
― Jane Goodall