Latest Frans de Waal Quotes from Interviews

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• We are territorial, power-hungry and even more brutal than chimpanzees.

  Frans de Waal

  Hungry, Chimpanzees, Brutal

• We are by far the most contradictory of all primates. An animal with this much internal conflict has never lived on this earth.

  Frans de Waal

  Animal, Earth, Conflict

• We, who think like animals living in small groups, must structure a global world. We believe in universal human rights and believe racism and war are wrong. On the other hand, it is our nature to be cooperative and loving almost exclusively with the members of the group to which we feel we belong.

  Frans de Waal

  War, Believe, Animal

• Morality, after all, has nothing to do with selflessness. On the contrary, self-interest is precisely the basis of the categorical imperative.

  Frans de Waal

  Self, Morality, Categorical Imperative

• Competitiveness is just as much a part of our nature as empathy. The ideal, in my view, is a democratic system with a social market economy, because it takes both tendencies into account.

  Frans de Waal

  Views, Empathy, Economy

• Socialism cannot function, because its economic reward structure is contrary to human nature.

  Frans de Waal

  Rewards, Human Nature, Socialism

• The evolutionary struggle for survival is really a self-serving series of blows and stabs, and yet it can lead to extremely social animals like dolphins, wolves or, for that matter, primates.

  Frans de Waal

  Struggle, Animal, Blow

• I call the notion that we are nothing but killer apes the Beethoven fallacy. Beethoven was disorganized and messy, and yet his music is the epitome of order.

  Frans de Waal

  Order, Killers, Apes

• The development of family entities enables men to cooperate far more effectively. Instead of constantly competing for the women with other men, each man essentially has a partner assigned to him, one with whom he can establish a family.

  Frans de Waal

  Men, Partners, Entity

• When someone brutally kills someone else, we call him "animalistic." But we consider ourselves "human" when we give to the poor.

  Frans de Waal

  Giving, Poor, Animalistic

• Humans became easy prey when they moved from the forest to the savanna, which deprived them of the option of climbing trees to flee predators. This shift made it necessary for the men to actively protect the women and their babies. Only as a result of this protection were women able to give birth in shorter intervals, perhaps once every two or three years. This meant that they could produce offspring about twice as frequently as apes. I would be willing to bet that this rapid reproduction is one of the reasons why we dominate the world today, and not the apes.

  Frans de Waal

  Baby, Men, Climbing

• In humans, the family prevents infanticide. Next to language, the core family, consisting of a mother, a father and children, is the greatest difference between us and other primates.

  Frans de Waal

  Mother, Children, Father

• Females avoid conflict. They are afraid of violence. The males, on the other hand, are less averse to strife. But once conflict breaks out, the males are much better at reconciling. In a study done in Finland, children who had quarreled were asked how much longer they intended to be angry at one another. The boys proudly said: "Oh, at least one or two days." The girls said "forever".

  Frans de Waal

  Girl, Children, Boys

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• Most men probably wouldn't want to live the lives of bonobos. They're constantly clinging to their mothers' apron strings. They lack the ability to make decisions about their own fates, something that we and male chimpanzees practically consider our birthright.

  Frans de Waal

  Mother, Fate, Men

• Wild groups of chimpanzees attack their enemies like gangs. What they completely lack, precisely because of their strong territorial behavior, is a friendly relationship with their neighbors.

  Frans de Waal

  Strong, Enemy, Friendly

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• When it comes to social interaction, the chimpanzees appear to be just as intelligent as we are.

  Frans de Waal

  Intelligent, Social, Chimpanzees

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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

  War, Army, Soldier

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• The chimpanzees could tear me apart in no time. They're many times stronger than we are.

  Frans de Waal

  Tears, Stronger, Chimpanzees

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• Studies of reconciliation in primates have demonstrated that if the relationship value increases between two parties they are more willing to make peace.

  Frans de Waal

  Party, Two, Study

  "Frans de Waal on Political Apes, Science Communication, and Building a Cooperative Society". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, blogs.scientificamerican.com. July 11, 2011.

• As far as the environment is concerned, I am becoming pessimistic because I do not see anybody stepping up and taking the long view approach. It seems like we're stuck in a tragedy of the commons where everyone is trying to contribute as little as possible to get out of this situation.

  Frans de Waal

  Views, Long, Trying

  "Frans de Waal on Political Apes, Science Communication, and Building a Cooperative Society". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, blogs.scientificamerican.com. July 11, 2011.

• We justify the inequalities by saying some people are just better and smarter than others and the strong should survive and the poor can die off.

  Frans de Waal

  Strong, People, Poor

• If both parties have a stake in the other, the chances of them killing each other are going to be reduced.

  Frans de Waal

  Party, Killing Each Other, Chance

• If you are a cooperative animal you need to watch what you get. If you, or even a whole community, invest in something but then a few individuals receive a much larger return, it's not a good arrangement. If it happens consistently, it's time to look for an arrangement that is more beneficial. That's why we're so sensitive to how rewards are being divided.

  Frans de Waal

  Animal, Community, Needs

  "Frans de Waal on Political Apes, Science Communication, and Building a Cooperative Society". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, blogs.scientificamerican.com. July 11, 2011.

• If you want to design a successful human society you need to know what kind of animal we are. Are we a social animal or a selfish animal? Do we respond better when we're solitary or living in a group?

  Frans de Waal

  Selfish, Successful, Animal

  "Frans de Waal on Political Apes, Science Communication, and Building a Cooperative Society". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, blogs.scientificamerican.com. July 11, 2011.

• You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society. Of course, I'm not saying that you can derive moral rules from nature - that's deriving an ought from an is, as the philosophers say - but you do need to know what kind of animals we are if you want to design a stable society.

  Frans de Waal

  Animal, Hands, Design

  "Frans de Waal on Political Apes, Science Communication, and Building a Cooperative Society". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, blogs.scientificamerican.com. July 11, 2011.