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Who said: “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.”
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Thumbnail of Jane Goodall (source)
Jane Goodall
(3 Apr 1934 - )

English primatologist, anthropologist and ethnologist who spent 45 years studying chimpanzee social behaviour. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute.


Jane Goodall - “Cruelty is the worst of human sins”

Illustrated Quote - Medium (500 x 350 px)

“Cruelty is the worst of human sins. …[By] deliberately inflicting suffering … we are guilty, whether it be human or animal.”
— Jane Goodall
From The Book of Uncommon Quips and Quotations.

More Jane Goodall quotes on science >>

This is a quote which the Webmaster has not yet traced to its original source. (Can you help?) It was found in a quote collection that included no citation for its origin.

Jane Goodall has written many books and articles, has often been interviewed for print and TV, and has given numerous lectures. This results from her commitment to make the world more aware of the intelligence of chimpanzees, and the plight of the chimpanzee in their disappearing rain forests. She has travelled widely, lecturing and raising funds for the Jane Goodall Institute so it can continue its efforts to assist wild and rescued chimpanzees.

With such a multitude of places that Jane Goodall has written or spoken, tracking down a given quote is daunting. The full quote as originally found is:

“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.”

The opening statement that “Cruelty is the worst of human sins,” has no doubt been uttered often by Goodall when expressing concern for animal welfare. These seven words appear in a book review by Steve Dale, for the Chicago Tribune in 1994. He reviewed a book coauthored by historian Dale Peterson with Jane Goodall, Visions of Caliban, (1993). Dale interviewed Goodall by telephone at her home in England. After that comment on cruelty, she continued,

“I don't believe that people are inherently savage and vindictive. They don’t understand. Medical researchers have been taught—actually brainwashed—to believe that animals don't have feelings. Any pet owner knows better.”

The article opened with these remarks by Goodall:

“Five years ago, when I showed slides of chimpanzees dressed up in tutus and ballet shoes, I heard giggles. Today, this is no longer cute, it's horrifying-and people are aware.”

The book gives various chilling examples of cruelty to apes, these close-to-human creatures, whether participants in a circus, biomedical laboratory animals, housed in poor conditions at zoos, or captive in the illicit international trade.

Text by Webmaster, with original quote in the collection by Bollimuntha Venkata Ramana Rao, The Book of Uncommon Quips and Quotations (2003), 12. Additional quotes from interview by Steve Dale, ‘Out of Africa’, Chicago Tribune (17 Oct 1994). (source)


See also:

Nature bears long with those who wrong her. She is patient under abuse. But when abuse has gone too far, when the time of reckoning finally comes, she is equally slow to be appeased and to turn away her wrath. (1882) -- Nathaniel Egleston, who was writing then about deforestation, but speaks equally well about the danger of climate change today.
Carl Sagan Thumbnail Carl Sagan: In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) ...(more by Sagan)

Albert Einstein: I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I could think was “It won the fight!” ...(more by Einstein)

Richard Feynman: It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of playing around with the algebra correctly. ...(more by Feynman)
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

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