When we are bad, we are worse than any primate that I know. And when we are good, we are actually better and more altruistic than any primate that I know.

The more self-aware an animal is, the more empathetic it tends to be.

Although elephants are far more distantly related to us than the great apes, they seem to have evolved similar social and cognitive capacities.

I was raised Catholic. Not just a little bit Catholic, like my wife, Catherine. When she was young, many Catholics in France already barely went to church, except for the big three: baptism, marriage, and funeral. And only the middle one was by choice.

If you look at national economies today, for example, the American economy, the European economy, the Indians, the Chinese, we're all tied together. If one of them sinks, the rest are going to sink with them and if one floats, the rest are lifted up. I find that very interesting.

When it comes to social interaction, the chimpanzees appear to be just as intelligent as we are.

Future benefits rarely figure in the minds of animals.