Top 160 Jane Goodall Quotes (2023 Update)

1. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

— Jane Goodall

2. “Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.”

— Jane Goodall

Featured in: Respect Quotes, Compassion Quotes, Understanding Quotes

3. “Cumulatively small decisions, choices, actions, make a very big difference.”

— Jane Goodall

4. “Children can change the world.”

— Jane Goodall

5. “Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”

— Jane Goodall

6. “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”

— Jane Goodall

7. “Having respect for animals makes us better humans...”

— Jane Goodall

8. “It’s up to us to save the world for tomorrow: it’s up to you and me.”

— Jane Goodall

9. “Your life matters. You can’t live through a day without making an impact on the world. And what’s most important is to think about the impact of your actions on the world around you.”

— Jane Goodall

10. “The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

— Jane Goodall

11. “Young people, when informed and empowered, when they realize that what they do truly makes a difference, can indeed change the world.”

— Jane Goodall

12. “Above all we must realize that each of us makes a difference with our life. Each of us impacts the world around us every single day. We have a choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place – or not to bother.”

— Jane Goodall

13. “My hope for the future is that we learn wisdom again.”

— Jane Goodall

14. “It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.” Jane Goodall.”

— Jane Goodall

15. “Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?”

— Jane Goodall

16. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

— Jane Goodall

17. “We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place – or not to bother.”

— Jane Goodall

18. “The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

— Jane Goodall

19. “Here we are, the most clever species ever to have lived. So how is it we can destroy the only planet we have?”

— Jane Goodall

20. “Just remember – if you are really and truly determined to work with animals, somehow, either now or later, you will find a way to do it. But you have to want it desperately, work hard, take advantage of an opportunity – and never give up.”

— Jane Goodall

21. “My mother always taught us that if people don’t agree with you, the important thing is to listen to them. But if you’ve listened to them carefully and you still think that you’re right, then you must have the courage of your convictions.”

— Jane Goodall

22. “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.”

— Jane Goodall

23. “We could change the world tomorrow if all the millions of people around the world acted the way they believe.”

— Jane Goodall

24. “I don’t care two hoots about civilization. I want to wander in the wild.”

— Jane Goodall

25. “What makes us human, I think, is an ability to ask questions, a consequence of our sophisticated spoken language.”

— Jane Goodall

26. “My mission is to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature.”

— Jane Goodall

27. “Every stage of my life set the scene for the next, and at each point all I had to do was say “yes” and not think too much about the consequences.”

— Jane Goodall

28. “One individual cannot possible make a difference, alone. It is individual efforts, collectively, that makes a noticeable difference – all the difference in the world!”

— Jane Goodall

29. “To me, cruelty is the worst of human sins. Once we accept that a living creature has feelings and suffers pain, then by knowingly and deliberately inflicting suffering on that creature, we are guilty, whether it be human or animal.”

— Jane Goodall

30. “Each one of us matters, has a role to play, and makes a difference. Each one of us must take responsibility for our own lives, and above all, show respect and love for living things around us, especially each other.”

— Jane Goodall

31. “The hardest part of returning to a truly healthy environment may be changing the current totally unsustainable heavy-meat-eating culture of increasing numbers of people around the world. But we must try. We must make a start, one by one.”

— Jane Goodall

32. “You aren’t going to save the world on your own. But you might inspire a generation of kids to save it for all of us. You would be amazed at what inspired children can do.”

— Jane Goodall

33. “If we kill off the wild, then we are killing a part of our souls.”

— Jane Goodall

34. “Be assured that our individual actions, collectively, make a huge difference.”

— Jane Goodall

35. “Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is all right, as long your values don’t change.”

— Jane Goodall

36. “I had a wonderful teacher about animal behavior – my dog Rusty. He taught me that animals have personalities, minds, and feelings.”

— Jane Goodall

37. “It would be absolutely useless for any of us to work to save wildlife without working to educate the next generation of conservationists.”

— Jane Goodall

38. “We are beginning to learn that each animal has a life and a place and a role in this world. If we place compassion and care in the middle of all our dealings with the animal world and honor and respect their lives, our attitudes will change.”

— Jane Goodall

39. “The most important thing is to actually think about what you do. To become aware and actually think about the effect of what you do on the environment and on society. That’s key, and that underlies everything else.”

— Jane Goodall

40. “If only we can overcome cruelty, to human and animal, with love and compassion we shall stand at the threshold of a new era in human moral and spiritual evolution – and realize, at last, our most unique quality: humanity.”

— Jane Goodall

41. “Chimps taught us we’re not separated from the animal kingdom, we’re a part of it.”

— Jane Goodall

42. “People don’t believe that their actions really and truly are going to make a difference. But kids get it. They know. And they get all excited about the difference they’re making.”

— Jane Goodall

43. “To me, trees are living beings and they have their own sort of personalities.”

— Jane Goodall

44. “It’s the bond between mother and child, which is really, for us and for chimps and other primates, the root of all the expressions of social behavior.”

— Jane Goodall

45. “It’s not a pretty picture, but there are reasons for hope.”

— Jane Goodall

46. “Science demands objective factual evidence – proof; spiritual experience is subjective and leads to faith.”

— Jane Goodall

47. “I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle... If you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little bits, that’s what will give you hope.”

— Jane Goodall

48. “You cannot share your life with a dog, as I had done in Bournemouth, or a cat, and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings.”

— Jane Goodall

49. “One thing I had learned from watching chimpanzees with their infants is that having a child should be fun.”

— Jane Goodall

Featured in: Fun Quotes

50. “I think we must cling to the hope that we can see in the great heroism, the bravery of the firemen and policemen, and the outpouring of caring and concern that has come pouring in from around the world.”

— Jane Goodall

Featured in: Caring Quotes