Jane Goodall is a British primatologist and anthropologist besides being an ethologist and UN Messenger of Peace. She is famous for discovering various similarities between humans and the chimpanzees. Goodall was interested in observing animal behavior since her childhood. As a child she used to observe the native birds and animals and read about them. She always dreamt of going to Africa to observe the wildlife and finally reached there with the help of a friend. There she met the famous anthropologist Louis Leakey who hired her as a secretary and took her to participate in an anthropological dig of pre-historic fossils of animals and humans. During this research Leakey recognized her potential and decided to send her on the project of researching on chimpanzees. She shifted to a camp in the ‘Gombe Stream Reserve’ with her mother. Although it took some time to befriend the chimps but gradually she was accepted by the chimpanzees. She termed this acceptance as the ‘banana club’. She studied the chimps and discovered various behavioral similarities. She recorded her experiences in various books which made her famous globally. She is the former president of ‘Advocates of Animals’ and works actively in conserving animals. Here is a compilation of sayings and quotations by Jane Goodall which have been curated from her writings, books, thoughts and interviews. These quotes and thoughts by Jane Goodall portray her compassion and sacred relation with the animal world.
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.
Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.
Jane Goodall
If we do not do something to help these creatures, we make a mockery of the whole concept of justice.
Jane Goodall
Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?
Jane Goodall
We can't leave people in abject poverty, so we need to raise the standard of living for 80% of the world's people, while bringing it down considerably for the 20% who are destroying our natural resources.
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.
The least I can do is speak out for the hundreds of chimpanzees who, right now, sit hunched, miserable and without hope, staring out with dead eyes from their metal prisons. They cannot speak for themselves.
How can you stop yourself from yelling and shouting and accusing everyone of cruelty? The easy answer is that the aggressive approach simply doesn't work.
...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.
