Frans de Waal

“Chimpanzees have very strong preferences and aversions that are completely personality-linked. The people who are unsuccessful in working with chimpanzees are those who take this personally.”

“Darwin wasn't just provocative in saying that we descend from the apes - he didn't go far enough. We are apes in every way, from our long arms and tailless bodies to our habits and temperament.”

“There has been so much underestimating of animal cognition that to perhaps overestimate it, as I probably do, is probably a healthy reaction.”

“In Africa, we have the bush meat trade, which means that, on a very large scale, animals are being killed in the forests and sold in the cities as a luxury food.”

“Although elephants are far more distantly related to us than the great apes, they seem to have evolved similar social and cognitive capacities.”

“I have often noticed how primate groups in their entirety enter a similar mood. All of a sudden, all of them are playful, hopping around. Or all of them are grumpy. Or all of them are sleepy and settle down. In such cases, the mood contagion serves the function of synchronizing activities.”

“Exclusive homosexuality is not very common in nature.”

“You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society.”

“I was born in Den Bosch, where the painter Hieronymus Bosch named himself after. And so I've always been very fond of this painter who lived and worked in the 15th century.”

“One thing bothered me as a student. In the 1960s, human behavior was totally off limits for the biologist. There was animal behavior, then there was a long time nothing, after which came human behavior as a totally separate category best left to a different group of scientists.”

“I describe in 'Chimpanzee Politics' how the alpha male needs broad support to reach the top spot. He needs some close allies and he needs many group members to be on his side.”

“Along with people in other creative professions, such as artists and musicians, many scientists experience this transcendence. I do so every day. For one, it's impossible to look an ape in the eye and not see oneself. There are other animals with frontally oriented eyes, but none that give you the shock of recognition of the ape's. Looking back at you is not so much an animal but a personality as solid and willful as yourself.”

“Science is not inherently good.”

“Male chimpanzees have an extraordinarily strong drive for dominance. They're constantly jockeying for position.”

“War is evitable if conditions are such that the costs of making war are higher than the benefits.”

“Sometimes I read about someone saying with great authority that animals have no intentions and no feelings, and I wonder, 'Doesn't this guy have a dog?'”

“I'm personally a nonbeliever, so I'm struggling with if we really need religion.”

“ספר הטבע דומה קצת לתנ"ך: כל אחד קורא בו מה שהוא רוצה, מסובלנות לחוסר סובלנות, מאלטרואיזם לחמדנות.”

“לכל מין יש היכולת שהוא צריך. אם אתה חיה כמו הסנאי שמחביא אגוזים בסתיו ומוצא אותם באביב, מובן שאתה צריך זיכרון טוב. ולסנאים אכן יש זיכרון מצוין. לחלופין, אם אתה צייד בחבורה כמו לווייתנים גדולי סנפיר או אריות, אתה צריך מיומנויות אחרות, כמו תיאום או חלוקת משימות, שהיא דבר מסובך מאוד. ואילו אנחנו בני האדם מתמחים בכלים ובשפה.”

“במדעי החברה, באנתרופולוגיה ובפילוסופיה יש עדיין הרבה פרופסורים שכן מאמינים בתיאוריית האבולוציה של דרווין, אבל לא כשזה מגיע לתודעה האנושית. עבורם, היא משהו ייחודי מאוד לבני אדם, שאינו שייך לאבולוציה.”