There are many reasons for kindness, and religion is just one of them. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
“If faith makes people buy an entire package of myths and values without asking too many questions, scientists are only slightly better.” — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Religion may have become a codification of morality, and it may fortify it, but it's not the origin of it. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Understanding the need for religion is a far superior goal to bashing it. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
The enemy of science is not religion... . The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
I'm personally a nonbeliever, so I'm struggling with if we really need religion. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Religions have a strong binding function and a cohesive element. They emphasize the primacy of the community as opposed to the individual,… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
The enemy of science is not religion. Religion comes in endless shapes and forms... The true enemy is the substitution of thought,… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Religion looms as large as an elephant in the United States, to the point that being nonreligious is about the biggest handicap… — 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
