Jane Goodall — "My mother always told me that if I wanted to achieve something, I had to work ha…"
My mother always told me that if I wanted to achieve something, I had to work hard and never give up.
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More from Jane Goodall
"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?"
"I believe that we can overcome the challenges we face, if we work together."
"We are all interconnected. What happens to one part of the world affects us all."
"We have to realize that we are part of nature, and not separate from it."
"Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved."
About Jane Goodall (born 1934)
British primatologist who in 1960 began the longest-running wild primate study at Gombe Stream, transforming our understanding of chimpanzees. Closely associated with Dian Fossey (mountain-gorilla researcher) and Birutė Galdikas (orangutan researcher; together with Goodall and Fossey one of Louis Leakey's 'Trimates'). For an intellectual contrast, see Walter Palmer, American dentist who killed Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe in 2015 — Palmer represents the trophy-hunting tradition Goodall's life's work has been organized against — the colonial-era hunter-naturalist worldview that treated primates and big game as specimens or trophies, which Goodall's Roots & Shoots and Jane Goodall Institute exist specifically to displace.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Success comes from persistent effort and refusing to quit — a lesson passed down through maternal guidance. The quote frames achievement as something earned rather than given, built on sustained hard work and the mental toughness to push through setbacks without surrendering. It highlights how early parental influence shapes ambition and work ethic, turning a mother's simple advice into a lifelong guiding principle.
Relevance to Jane Goodall
Goodall's mother, Vanne, actively supported her unconventional ambitions — she accompanied Jane to Gombe Stream in 1960 to make the expedition socially acceptable for a young woman traveling to Tanzania alone. Without a university degree initially, Goodall entered a male-dominated scientific field and spent 60-plus years studying chimpanzees through patient, long-term observation. Her mother's perseverance ethic is embedded in a career defined by decade-long commitment few others sustained.
The era
Goodall began fieldwork at Gombe in 1960, when women scientists faced institutional barriers and were rarely funded for independent research. Post-war Western culture actively steered women away from careers in biology and anthropology. Sponsor Louis Leakey deliberately chose women for primate fieldwork, believing their patience and openness were assets — but the choice was controversial. The quote's message of persistence against doubt resonated directly with the gender-based resistance Goodall encountered throughout her career.
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