We would much rather blame nature for what we don't like in ourselves than credit it for what we do like. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental,… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Competitiveness is just as much a part of our nature as empathy. The ideal, in my view, is a democratic system with… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Many economists are great believers in the idea that everything in nature is competitive and that we should set up a society… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
The fact that the apes exist and that we can study them is extremely important and makes us reflect on ourselves and… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
We are by far the most contradictory of all primates. An animal with this much internal conflict has never lived on this… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
As far as the environment is concerned, I am becoming pessimistic because I do not see anybody stepping up and taking the… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
“So, don’t believe anyone who says that since nature is based on a struggle for life, we need to live like this… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
We, who think like animals living in small groups, must structure a global world. We believe in universal human rights and believe… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society. Of… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
If both parties have a stake in the other, the chances of them killing each other are going to be reduced. — Frans de Waal Copy Share
I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we’d known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later—or not at all. The… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
Unlike the primate hand, the elephant's grasping organ is also its nose. Elephants use their trunks not only to reach food but also to… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
“on August 16, 1996, when an eight-year-old female gorilla named Binti Jua helped a three-year-old boy who had fallen eighteen feet into the primate… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
We start out postulating sharp boundaries, such as between humans and apes, or between apes and monkeys, but are in fact dealing with sand… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
Perhaps it's just me, but I am wary of any persons whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior. — Frans de Waal Copy Share
Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still out on… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
“humans are a strange lot. We have the power to analyze and explore the world around us, yet panic as soon as the evidence… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
Armies are a purely human invention. Most soldiers who go to war nowadays don't even do it because they're inherently aggressive. — Frans de Waal Copy Share
There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors. — Frans de Waal Copy Share
“In a world divided by chimpophiles and bonobophiles, we all had a good laugh when Stephen peeled his banana. (62)” — Frans de Waal Copy Share
In Africa, we have the bush meat trade, which means that, on a very large scale, animals are being killed in the forests and… — Frans de Waal Copy Share
