The Best Jane Goodall quotes

I want to change awareness. — Jane Goodall

Lasting change is a series of compromises. — Jane Goodall

Children can change the world. — Jane Goodall

I’ve watched a lot of people who became famous who completely change and I think it’s because they tend to believe all the hype that’s out there. I don’t think there’s that much hype about me. — Jane Goodall

Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is all right, as long your values don’t change. — Jane Goodall

The only possible way to get somebody to change is to reach into their hearts. — Jane Goodall

Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right. — Jane Goodall

I think the most important thing to do is to be willing to listen, willing to care, and willing to admit mistakes and change your ways for the better! — Jane Goodall

We could change the world tomorrow if all the millions of people around the world acted the way they believe. — Jane Goodall

There is a powerful force unleashed when young people resolve to make a change. — Jane Goodall

Young people, when informed and empowered, when they realize that what they do truly makes a difference, can indeed change the world. — Jane Goodall

I am not deeply involved in Australian politics but I know there are prime ministers, governments around the world who are not acting responsibly in relation to climate change. — Jane Goodall

Realize that change–whilst we want it to happen fast–is usually the result of a great deal of work, and often comes as a result of a series of compromises (so long as we do not compromise our values). — Jane Goodall

The Soul of Money is an inspired and utterly fascinating book. It will change the way you think about money. … It is a book for everyone who would like to make the world a better place. — Jane Goodall

Every individual can make a difference … if we continue to leave decision making to the so–called decision makers, things will never change. — Jane Goodall

Every individual matters and has a role to play in this life on Earth. — Jane Goodall

When you meet chimps you meet individual personalities. When a baby chimp looks at you it’s just like a human baby. We have a responsibility to them. — Jane Goodall

Be assured that our individual actions, collectively, make a huge difference. — Jane Goodall

Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference. — Jane Goodall

Farm animals feel pleasure and sadness, excitement and resentment, depression, fear, and pain. They are far more aware and intelligent than we ever imagined…they are individuals in their own right. — Jane Goodall

One individual cannot possible make a difference, alone. It is individual efforts, collectively, that makes a noticeable difference–all the difference in the world! — Jane Goodall

Every individual can make a difference every day by making conscious choices. — Jane Goodall

Especially females and the younger ones like to be with somebody who is wise. — Jane Goodall

I never wanted to be a scientist per se. I wanted to be a naturalist. — Jane Goodall

Nothing is more precious than your baby. — Jane Goodall

There are good mothers and bad ones, but most of them are somewhere in–between. — Jane Goodall

Some humans are mathematicians–others aren’t. — Jane Goodall

Being evil is something that only humans are capable of. — Jane Goodall

You better not mess with chimps. They are much stronger than humans. — Jane Goodall

We have so far to go to realize our human potential for compassion, altruism, and love. — Jane Goodall

One cannot watch chimpanzee infants for long without realizing that they have the same emotional need for affection and reassurance as human children. — Jane Goodall

I have found that to love and be loved is the most empowering and exhilarating of all human emotions. — Jane Goodall

We, as humans, have actually developed a sense of social responsibility. We have gone beyond our basic instincts. — Jane Goodall

It was both fascinating and appalling to learn that chimpanzees were capable of hostile and territorial behavior that was not unlike certain forms of primitive human warfare. — Jane Goodall

Cultural speciation had been crippling to human moral and spiritual growth. It had hindered freedom of thought, limited our thinking, imprisoned us in the cultures into which we had been born. — Jane Goodall

But let us not forget that human love and compassion are equally deeply rooted in our primate heritage, and in this sphere too our sensibilities are of a higher order of magnitude than those of chimpanzees. — Jane Goodall

We now know that the structure of the DNA in humans and chimpanzees differs by only just over one percent. You could even have a blood transfusion from a chimp, provided you have the same blood group. — Jane Goodall

I think empathy is really important, and I think only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our full potential. — Jane Goodall

I do have reasons for hope: our clever brains, the resilience of nature, the indomitable human spirit, and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action. — Jane Goodall

Today it is generally accepted that although the earliest humans probably ate some meat, it was unlikely to have played a major role in their diet. Plants would have been a much more important source of food. — Jane Goodall

What makes us human, I think, is an ability to ask questions, a consequence of our sophisticated spoken language. — Jane Goodall

I had been told from school onwards that the best definition of a human being was man the tool–maker–yet I had just watched a chimp tool–maker in action. I remember that day as vividly as if it was yesterday. — Jane Goodall

I like some animals more than some people, some people more than some animals. — Jane Goodall

I had a wonderful teacher about animal behavior. — Jane Goodall

We find animals doing things that we, in our arrogance, used to think was ‘just human’. — Jane Goodall

I have never had an animal that didn’t have a personality, one differing from another. — Jane Goodall

Chimps are far too much human to be my favorite animal. — Jane Goodall

Animals have personalities and minds and emotions. — Jane Goodall

Of course animals have a personality and emotions. — Jane Goodall

I cannot remember a time when I did not want to go to Africa to study animals. — Jane Goodall

Chimps taught us we’re not separated from the animal kingdom, we’re a part of it. — Jane Goodall

I always loved animals. And when I was ten, I decided I had to go to Africa and live with animals and write books about them. — Jane Goodall

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. — Jane Goodall

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. — Jane Goodall

When I was a child, the African forest sounded like a dream to me, because it was full of animals and it was wild. — Jane Goodall

Animals were my passion from even before I could speak apparently. When I was about 10, 11 I fell in love with Tarzan. — Jane Goodall

I don’t even think of chimps as animals. I think of them as beings. — Jane Goodall

Certainly it’s very often true that women tend to be a bit quieter and more prepared to sit there and let the animal tell you things. — Jane Goodall

Having respect for animals makes us better humans. — Jane Goodall

Researchers find it very necessary to keep blinkers on. They don’t want to admit that the animals they are working with have feelings. — Jane Goodall

Anyone who tries to improve the lives of animals invariably comes in for criticism from those who believe such efforts are misplaced in a world of suffering humanity. — Jane Goodall

You cannot share your life with a dog, as I had done in Bournemouth, or a cat, and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings. — Jane Goodall

I’m always pushing for human responsibility. Given that chimpanzees and many other animals are sentient and sapient, then we should treat them with respect. — Jane Goodall

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. — Jane Goodall

There isn’t a sharp line dividing humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. All the time, we find animals doing things that, in our arrogance, we thought were just human. — Jane Goodall

A chimp would never plan to pull another’s nails out. — Jane Goodall

Chimps are very quick to have a sudden fight or aggressive episode, but they’re equally as good at reconciliation. — Jane Goodall

I was even accused of teaching the chimps how to fish for termites which I mean that would have been such a brilliant coup. — Jane Goodall

I shouldn’t have named the chimps. It wasn’t scientific. I didn’t know. I knew nothing. And worse sin of all was that I was ascribing to them emotions like happiness, sadness and so forth. — Jane Goodall

It’s the bond between mother and child, which is really for us and for chimps and other primates, the root of all the expressions of social behavior. — Jane Goodall

It was because the chimps are so eye–catching, so like us and teach us so much that my work was recognised worldwide. — Jane Goodall

I learned from my dog long before I went to Gombe that we weren’t the only beings with personalities. What the chimps did was help me to persuade others. — Jane Goodall

Even chimps understand the concept–if a troop of chimps enters a fruit tree, they will only pick the fruits that are ripe and leave the others growing. That is sustainability. — Jane Goodall

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

Never be arrogant or abrasive. Treat your opponent respectfully if they really and truly believe they are right. — Jane Goodall

I believe sharing stories and experiences is the best way to teach people to empathize! — Jane Goodall

I believe the only hope for mankind lies in the hands of our young people. — Jane Goodall

I believe that accurate knowledge is very, very important, but find that out in free time. Don’t let it take over every hour of the day. Perhaps most important, talk about it. — Jane Goodall

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. — Jane Goodall

I believe that we have more capability than any other creature to control our biological inheritance–and we do so most of the time. — Jane Goodall

I don’t spend that much time being introspective, believe it or not. All I know is that I grew up not questioning God because that’s how you are. God was there like the birds and the wind. — Jane Goodall

Cumulatively small decisions, choices, actions, make a very big difference. — Jane Goodall

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around You. what You do makes a difference, and You have to decide what kind of difference You want to make. — Jane Goodall

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. — Jane Goodall

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. — Jane Goodall

I would never say I was an icon, but so many people have said I am, so I suppose I am. I mean, I can’t not be what everyone says I am. But I don’t feel like an icon. — Jane Goodall

Chimps act the way they feel unless they are afraid of reprisal if they do so. But that doesn’t apply to humans. — Jane Goodall

However much you know giraffes, to see one in the wild for the first time feels prehistoric. — Jane Goodall

The problem of the chimps is that they can only sit and look. They can’t discuss what they feel. All that feeling is trapped within each one. — Jane Goodall

In a very unscientific statement, I feel that there’s been a disconnect between this clever brain and the heart. — Jane Goodall

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. — Jane Goodall

There are many people out there (me being one of them) who can vouch that animals have feelings; they feel compassion and love, as well as pain! — Jane Goodall

We are always talking about how we can get more environmental and humanitarian education. It is about listening to the voice of young people–how they feel, and what would be most meaningful for them. — Jane Goodall

I’m highly political. I spend an awful lot of time in the U.S. trying to influence decision–makers. But I don’t feel in tune with British politics. — Jane Goodall

People say maybe we have a soul and chimpanzees don’t. I feel that it’s quite possible that if we have souls, chimpanzees have souls as well. — Jane Goodall