Jane Goodall — "The world needs more compassion."
The world needs more compassion.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Jane Goodall
"Every choice we make has an impact on the world, and we should choose wisely."
"Hope is what keeps us going. Hope is what drives us to make a difference."
"The world needs us to be better. We need to be better for the animals, for the planet, for ourselves."
"My mother always told me that if I wanted to achieve something, I had to work hard and never give up."
"When I was a little girl, I used to pretend I was Tarzan. I would climb trees and talk to the animals."
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.
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
The world suffers from indifference toward other people, animals, and the environment. This statement says that extending genuine empathy and care across those divides is not optional sentiment but a necessary correction. Compassion means actively considering the suffering of others and letting that understanding shape behavior. In an era of ecological collapse, social division, and animal exploitation, it names the missing ingredient that could change how humans treat the rest of life on Earth.
Relevance to Jane Goodall
Goodall spent decades living among chimpanzees at Gombe, Tanzania, documenting their grief, tool use, and social bonds, proving animals have rich inner lives. That work converted her from scientist to activist. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots & Shoots, mobilizing millions around conservation and kindness. Her conviction that compassion for animals and humans is inseparable drives everything from her opposition to bushmeat trading to advocacy for communities living near threatened forests.
The era
Goodall's most active advocacy years coincided with accelerating environmental crises: Congo Basin deforestation, chimpanzee habitat loss, rising factory farming, and climate breakdown. The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw human-caused species extinction reach roughly 1,000 times background rates. Simultaneously, animal rights and environmental justice movements gained global traction, making her call for compassion both a diagnosis of what industrial civilization was destroying and a practical prescription for reversing it.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].