Jane Goodall Quotes: 45 Words That Will Change the Way You See Life and the World

1. "Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right."

2. "Words can be said in bitterness and anger, and often there seems to be an element of truth in the nastiness. And words don't go away, they just echo around."

3. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

4. “The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

5. “Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”

6. “We have so far to go to realize our human potential for compassion, altruism, and love.”

7. “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”

8. “Each one of us matters, has a role to play, and makes a difference. Each one of us must take responsibility for our own lives, and above all, show respect and love for living things around us, especially each other.”

9. “Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is all right, as long your values don't change.”

10. "Cumulatively small decisions, choices, actions, make a very big difference."

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

12. "Your life matters. You can't live through a day without making an impact on the world. And what's most important is to think about the impact of your actions on the world around you."

13. "We could change the world tomorrow if all the millions of people around the world acted the way they believe."

14. "Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right."

15. "I have found that to love and be loved is the most empowering and exhilarating of all human emotions."

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

17. "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."

18. "We are unique. Chimpanzees are unique. Dogs are unique. But we humans are just not as different as we used to think."

19. "Become as knowledgeable as possible."

20. "The only possible way to get somebody to change is to reach into their hearts."

1. “Here we are, the most clever species ever to have lived. So how is it we can destroy the only planet we have?”

2. “If we do not do something to help these creatures, we make a mockery of the whole concept of justice.”

3. “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.”

4. "The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves."

5. "You aren't going to save the world on your own. But you might inspire a generation of kids to save it for all of us. You would be amazed at what inspired children can do."

6. "For those who have experienced the joy of being alone with nature there is really little need for me to say much more; for those who have not, no words of mine can ever describe the powerful, almost mystical knowledge of beauty and eternity that come, suddenly, and all unexpected."

7. "Having respect for animals makes us better humans."

8. "My mission is to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature."

9. "To reconnect with nature is key if we want to save the planet."

10. "It's up to us to save the world for tomorrow: it's up to you and me."

11. "If we kill off the wild, then we are killing a part of our souls."

12. “We have a responsibility toward the other life-forms of our planet whose continued existence is threatened by the thoughtless behavior of our own human species. . . . Environmental responsibility – for if there is no God, then, obviously, it is up to us to put things right.”

13. "We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place--or not to bother."

14. "It's been proven by quite a few studies that plants are good for our psychological development. If you green an area, the rate of crime goes down. Torture victims begin to recover when they spend time outside in a garden with flowers. So we need them, in some deep psychological sense, which I don't suppose anybody really understands yet."

15. "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."

1. "I had a wonderful teacher about animal behavior - my dog Rusty. He taught me that animals have personalities, minds, and feelings."

2. "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."

3. "Chimps are far too much human to be my favorite animal."

4. “One thing I had learned from watching chimpanzees with their infants is that having a child should be fun.”

5. "Chimps are very quick to have a sudden fight or aggressive episode, but they're equally as good at reconciliation."

6. "Chimpanzees, more than any other living creature, have helped us to understand that there is no sharp line between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. It's a very blurry line, and it's getting more blurry all the time."

7. "Animals are as deserving of a place on this planet as we are, and the difference between us is that humans have a voice they can use to help the animal cause, and it is up to all of us to use it to make a positive difference!"

8. "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."

9. "On the day-long follows that I used to do with mothers and their offspring - these chimp families that I knew so well - there was hardly a day when I didn't learn something new about them."

10. "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."