Frans de Waal Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• The original form is the contagion of fear and alarm. You're in a flock of birds. One bird suddenly takes off. You have no time to wait and see what's going on. You take off, too. Otherwise, you're lunch.

  Frans de Waal

  Lunch, Bird, Waiting

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  7 Copy quote

• I am personally not against keeping animals at zoos, as they serve a huge educational purpose, but treating them well and with respect seems the least we could do, and with 'we' I mean not just zoo staff, but most certainly also the public.

  Frans de Waal

  Zoos, Educational, Mean

  "Jump, Tiger, Jump!" by Frans de Waal, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 27, 2007.

  93 Copy quote

• Why not assume that our humanity, including the self-control needed for livable societies, is built into us? Does anyone truly believe that our ancestors lacked social norms before they had religion? Did they never assist others in need, or complain about an unfair deal? Humans must have worried about the functioning of their communities well before the current religions arose, which is only a few thousand years ago.

  Frans de Waal

  Believe, Self, Years

  "Morals Without God?". opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com. October 17, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

• The hamadryas baboon is a harem holder where one male mates with multiple females.

  Frans de Waal

  Males, Female, Baboons

  "Frans de Waal on Politics, Fairness, and Human Nature". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 14, 2011.

  5 Copy quote

• I've argued that many of what philosophers call moral sentiments can be seen in other species. In chimpanzees and other animals, you see examples of sympathy, empathy, reciprocity, a willingness to follow social rules. Dogs are a good example of a species that have and obey social rules; that's why we like them so much, even though they're large carnivores.

  Frans de Waal

  Dog, Animal, Empathy

  "Confessions of a Lonely Atheist" by Natalie Angier, partners.nytimes.com. January 14, 2001.

  6 Copy quote

• The fact that the apes exist and that we can study them is extremely important and makes us reflect on ourselves and our human nature. In that sense alone, you need to protect the apes.

  Frans de Waal

  Important, Needs, Apes

  "The Bonobo in All of Us". Interview with Sue Western, www.pbs.org. January 1, 2007.

  4 Copy quote

• Contrary to general belief, humans imitate apes more than the reverse. The sight of monkeys or apes induces an irresistible urge in people to jump up and down, exaggeratedly scratch themselves and holler in a way that must make the primates wonder how this otherwise so intelligent species has come to depend on such inferior means of communication.

  Frans de Waal

  Communication, Mean, Intelligent

  7 Copy quote

• As in a Russian doll, however, the outer layers always contain an inner core. Instead of evolution having replaced simpler forms of empathy with more advanced ones, the latter are merely elaborations on the former and remain dependent on them. This also means that empathy comes naturally to us. It is not something we only learn later in life, or that is culturally constructed.

  Frans de Waal

  Mean, Later In Life, Empathy

  4 Copy quote

• It is hard to get animals which normally pay little attention to each other to do things together. One can teach dolphins to jump simultaneously out of the water precisely because they show similar behavior spontaneously, but try to make two domestic cats jump together and you will fail.

  Frans de Waal

  Cat, Animal, Two

  "Elephants Trump Magic Goldfish" by Frans de Waal, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 8, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• A chimpanzee who is really gearing up for a fight doesn't waste time with gestures but just goes ahead and attacks.

  Frans de Waal

  Fighting, Gestures, Waste

  4 Copy quote

• I think we need to start thinking about grounding our moral systems in our biology.

  Frans de Waal

  Thinking, Needs, Moral

  4 Copy quote

• Chimpanzees, typically, kiss and embrace after fights. They first make eye contact from a distance to see the mood of the others. Then they approach and kiss and embrace.

  Frans de Waal

  Distance, Eye, Fighting

  4 Copy quote

• The thinking is that we started evolving language not by speaking but by gesturing.

  Frans de Waal

  Thinking, Language, Evolve

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frans de Waal

  Groups, Sleepy, Mood

  16 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frans de Waal

  Support, Allies, Males

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  4 Copy quote

• Humanity is actually much more cooperative and empathic than [it's] given credit for.

  Frans de Waal

  Humanity, Credit, Given

  6 Copy quote

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

  Frans de Waal

  Hands, Design, Should

  "Frans de Waal on Politics, Fairness, and Human Nature". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 14, 2011.

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frans de Waal

  Mean, Animal, Cities

  4 Copy quote

• Popular culture bombards us with examples of animals being humanized for all sorts of purposes, ranging from education to entertainment to satire to propaganda. Walt Disney, for example, made us forget that Mickey is a mouse, and Donald a duck. George Orwell laid a cover of human societal ills over a population of livestock.

  Frans de Waal

  Animal, Ducks, Example

  7 Copy quote

• Exclusive homosexuality is not very common in nature.

  Frans de Waal

  Common, Homosexuality, Exclusive

  4 Copy quote

Page 3 of 4

First

← Prev

1

2

3

4

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin