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Of course we're all programmed genetically to some extent. But the selfish gene thesis doesn't explain everything.

Jane Goodall

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Jane Goodall
Age: 90
Born: 1934
Born: April 3
Anthropologist
Environmentalist
Ethologist
Primatologist
University Teacher
Writer
Hampstead Village
Dame Jane Morris Goodall
Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall
Dame Jane Goodall
Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall
Explain
Courses
Genetically
Course
Programmed
Doesn
Thesis
Everything
Gene
Genes
Extent
Selfish

More quotes by Jane Goodall

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Surely it should be a matter of moral responsibility that we humans, different from other animals mainly by virtue of our more highly developed intellect and, with it, our greater capacity for understanding and compassion, ensure that medical progress slowly detaches its roots from the manure of non-human animal suffering and despair.
Jane Goodall
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In Tanzania, the chimps are isolated in a very tiny patch of forest. I flew over it 13 years ago and realized that, basically, all the trees had gone, that people all around the park are struggling to survive. It became very clear that there was no way to protect the chimps while the people were in this dire circumstance.
Jane Goodall
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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
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I thought my life was mapped out. Research, living in the forest, teaching and writing. But in '86 I went to a conference and realised the chimpanzees were disappearing. I had worldwide recognition and a gift of communication. I had to use them.
Jane Goodall
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Well, in some ways we're not successful at all. We're destroying our home. That's not a bit successful.
Jane Goodall
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We, as humans, have actually developed a sense of social responsibility. We have gone beyond our basic instincts.
Jane Goodall
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Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutan shave been living for hundreds of thousands of years in their forest,living fantastic lives, never overpopulating, never destroying the forest. I would say that they have been in a way more successful than us as far as being in harmony with the environment.
Jane Goodall
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Without the support of local people, you might as well give up because you can make all the noise you like, you can demarcate a national park, but if the people outside want to go creeping into a forest you really can't stop them. They've got to get a benefit.
Jane Goodall
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It's not Africa that is destroying the African rainforest, it's selling concessions to timber companies that are not African, they are from the developed world - Japan, America, Germany, Britain.
Jane Goodall
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But does that mean that war and violence are inevitable? I would argue not because we have also evolved this amazingly sophisticated intellect, and we are capable of controlling our innate behavior a lot of the time.
Jane Goodall
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And I thought how sad it was that, for all our sophisticated intellect, for all our noble aspirations, our aggressive behavior was not just similar in many ways to that of the chimpanzees - it was even worse. Worse because human beings have the potential to rise above their baser instincts, whereas chimpanzees probably do not.
Jane Goodall
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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
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Every single day, we could be in a motorcar accident, so, we have to carry on with our lives, and not imagine terror around every corner.
Jane Goodall
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Some people say, therefore, that violence and war are inevitable. I say rubbish: Our brains are fully capable of controlling instinctive behavior.
Jane Goodall
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A sense of calm came over me. More and more often I found myself thinking, This is where I belong. This is what I came into this world to do.
Jane Goodall
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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
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Chimps are brutal, and it is so deliberate. The males go out and get near the boundary of their territory. And they walk very silently trying hard not to make any noise. They will climb into a tree and stare out over hostile territory for hours. They are waiting for the right opportunity. And then they attack.
Jane Goodall
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We are beginning to learn that each animal has a life and a place and a role in this world. If we place compassion and care in the middle of all our dealings with the animal world and honor and respect their lives, our attitudes will change.
Jane Goodall
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We're the ones who can make a difference. If we lead lives where we consciously leave the lightest possible ecological footprints, if we buy the things that are ethical for us to buy and don't buy the things that are not, we can change the world overnight.
Jane Goodall
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A good mother is protective but not over-protective. She's patient, she's affectionate, she's playful, but above all she is supportive.
Jane Goodall